Approaches  Towards  Church  Unity. 

Edited  by 
Newman  Smyth  and  Williston  Walker, 


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ESTABLISHED  AT  YALE 

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SHEFFIELD  SCIENTIFIC  SCHOOL 

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APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS 
CHURCH  UNITY 

EDITED  BY 

NEWMAN  SMYTH 

AND7' 

WILLISTON  WALKER 


P^rvtSJ^J 


NEW  HAVEN 
YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  •  HUMPHREY  MILFORD  •  OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

MDCCCCXIX 


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COPYRIGHT,    19 19,  BY 
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PREFACE 


REUNION  of  the  churches  has  become  now  a  practi- 
cal question.  The  end  of  the  war  leaves  this  as 
^  the  next  Christian  thing  to  be  done.  Happily  the 
sentiment  for  unity  is  rising  and  becoming  a  strong  impul- 
sive movement  throughout  the  Christian  community.  It 
requires,  especially  among  the  leaders,  in  all  the  churches 
the  will  to  unity.  It  demands  also  intelligent  direction  as 
well  as  a  common  venture  of  faith. 

For  this  reason  it  seems  now  highly  desirable  that  the 
materials  for  discussions  and  conferences  concerning  unity 
should  be  rendered  as  available  as  possible  for  the  general 
public  and  for  the  use  of  ministers  who  may  not  have  con- 
venient access  to  large  libraries.  To  make  some  contribu- 
tion to  this  end  is  the  aim  of  this  publication,  so  far  as  the 
limits  of  a  book  not  too  large  for  general  use  may  permit. 
The  writers  co-operating  in  it  have  accordingly  avoided 
advocating  or  urging  any  particular  plans  or  measures  now 
pending  for  greater  unification  of  the  forces  of  the  churches ; 
but  it  has  been  their  common  object  to  present  results  of 
historical  studies  and  vital  principles  of  organic  unity  which 
should  be  taken  into  due  consideration  in  any  plans  or 
common  approaches  towards  unity.  Besides  the  essays  which 
constitute  the  main  body  of  this  volume,  there  have  been 
added  accounts  of  some  conferences  and  endeavors  in 
former  times  to  seek  the  peace  of  the  churches,  of  which 
our  general  histories  have  taken  little  note.  They  will  be 
found  to  contain  many  expressions  that  are  strikingly  per- 
tinent to  present  conditions.  Some  precedents  and  opinions 
also  relating  to  special  problems  of  unity  have' been  included 

5 


6465|5 


PREFACE 

in  the  following  pages.  An  appendix  contains  statements 
for  convenient  reference  relative  to  plans  and  approaches 
now  under  consideration,  and  to  which  the  attention  of 
religious  conventions  and  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  the  coming 
months  may  be  called. 


CONTENTS 

I 
The   Early   Development   of    Church   Officers. 
Williston  Walker        .         .         .         .         .11 

II 

Vital  Principles  of  Church  Development.    New- 
man Smyth        ......       36 

1.  Biological  Criticism  of  Newman's  Devel- 

opment of  Doctrine   ....       42 

2.  Analogies  of  Church  Development  from 

Biology  .....       47 

3.  Vital  Values  of  Various  Symbols  of  Faith 

and  Worship    .....       54 

III 

Concerning  Schism.    Newman  Smyth        .  .       65 

IV 

The  Historical  Method  of  Approach.    Raymond 
Calkins     .......       74 

V 

The  Place  of  the  Creed  in  the  Life  of  the  Church. 
Raymond  Calkins       .  .  .  .  .91 

VI 
Concerning  Unity.    The  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  C.  H. 
Brent        .......     109 

7 


CONTENTS 

VII 

Some   Historical   Materials   for   Present   Uses. 
Newman  Smyth  .  .  .  .  .113 

1.  Conferences  between  Roman  Catholics  and 

Protestants  in  the  Seventeenth  Century     113 

a.  The  Conference  at  Thorn,  1645         •     IX3 

b.  The  Work  of  Spinola,  Bishop  of  Neu- 

stadt  .         .         .         .         .115 

c.  Molanus'  Proposals  .         .         .118 

d.  Correspondence     between     Molanus, 

Leibnitz,  and  Bossuet,  1 692-1701    .     120 

2.  Movements    for    Reunion   of    Protestant 

Churches  .  .  .  .  .124 

a.  The   Peacemaking   Travels   of   John 

Dury  .....     124 

b.  Conferences     for     Reunion     of    the 

Churches  in  England      .      .      .      .     132 

VIII 

Historical  Precedents  and  Opinions.     Newman 
Smyth       .......     138 

1.  Concerning  Ordination  by  Bishops   .  .138 

2.  Concerning  Sacrament  and  Orders   .  .144 

IX 
Appendix      .......     147 

1.  The  Lambeth  Quadrilateral    .  .  .147 

2.  For  a  World  Conference         .  .  .147 

3.  First  Interim  Statement  of  Joint  Anglican 

and  Nonconformist  Committee    .  .     150 

4.  The  Second  Interim  Statement         .  .     153 

5.  Proposals  for  an  Approach  toward  Unity 

by  a  Conference  of  Episcopalians  and 
Congregationalists     .         .         .         .158 
8 


CONTENTS 

6.  Proposals  for  Organic  Unity  Initiated  by 

the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  U.  S.  A.         .  .  .165 

7.  The  Interchurch  World  Movement  .  .     168 

8.  Preparation  for  Convening  the  World  Con- 

ference on  Faith  and  Order         .  .169 


I 

THE  EARLY  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
CHURCH  OFFICERS 

NO  problem  in  church  history  is  more  difficult  than 
that  of  the  beginnings  of  Christian  organization, 
largely  owing  to  the  scantiness  of  the  evidence, 
and  the  desire,  manifested  as  early  as  the  second  century, 
to  trace  the  beginnings  of  then  existing  institutions  to  the 
apostolic  age.  The  utmost  that  can  be  done  is  to  trace  the 
scattered  hints  of  the  course  of  development  and  to  confess 
ignorance  regarding  many  stages  in  the  progress  where  the 
evidence  is  insufficient  for  a  clear  judgment.  There  will 
appear  reason  to  conclude,  also,  that  while  church  organi- 
zation had  acquired  a  remarkable  uniformity  by  the  close 
of  the  second  century,  its  course  of  development  was  not 
everywhere  the  same,  and  that  its  organs  were  unlike  in 
different  portions  of  the  church  during  much  of  this  period. 
On  the  departure  of  its  Lord,  the  leadership  of  the  Jeru- 
salem congregation  was  taken  by  Peter  (Acts  i:  15).  To 
him  the  conviction  had  first  come  that  Christ  had  risen  from 
the  dead  (I  Cor.  15:  5),  and  he  was  in  that  sense  the  rock 
apostle  on  whom  the  Church  was  built  (Mat.  16:  18). 
Peter  it  was  who  addressed  the  multitude  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  (Acts  2:  14),  and  was  the  spokesman  in  the  early 
controversies  with  Jewish  authorities  and  opponents  (Acts 
3:4,  12;  4:  8;  5:  3,  9,  29).  With  Peter,  John  was  asso- 
ciated with  less  conspicuity  of  leadership  (Acts  3:  1,  4,  n; 

11 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

4:  13,  19).  This  leadership  appears  to  have  been  far  more 
personal  than  as  deference  to  apostleship,  for  when  Paul 
made  his  first  visit  to  Jerusalem  as  a  Christian,  James,  "the 
Lord's  brother,"  who  was  certainly  not  one  of  the  Twelve, 
was  eminent  in  the  congregation  (Gal.  1:  19),  and  by  the 
time  of  Paul's  second  visit  was  one  of  those  "reputed  to  be 
pillars"  (Gal.  2:9).  A  few  years  later  James's  leadership 
was  not  shared  with  others  of  anything  like  equal  conspicu- 
ity  (Gal.  2:  12;  Acts  21:  18).  The  guidance  of  the  Jeru- 
salem congregation  was  therefore,  long  before  the  death  of 
the  leading  apostles,  in  other  hands  than  those  of  members 
of  the  Twelve.  This  development  may  well  raise  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  author  of  "Acts"  is  not  influenced  by  tra- 
ditional ideas  of  development  in  representing  the  apostles  as 
acting  as  a  board  as  fully  as  he  does  (Acts  6:  2 ;  8:  14,  etc.). 

James,  for  some  years  before  his  martyrdom,  about  63, 
was  undoubtedly  the  head  of  the  Jerusalem  congregation. 
Second-century  tradition,  and  many  later  scholars,  have 
seen  in  this  position  an  episcopate;  but  the  term  bishop  is 
applied  to  James  by  no  New  Testament  writer.  On  his 
death,  though  perhaps  not  till  after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem 
and  destruction  of  the  temple  by  Titus,  James  was  succeeded 
as  ruler  of  the  Jerusalem  congregation  by  Symeon,  the  reason 
for  the  choice  being,  according  to  the  gossipy  Hegesippus, 
that  "he  was  a  cousin  of  the  Lord"  (Eusebius,  "Church 
History,"  4:  22).  The  prominence  of  those  thus  reputed 
kinsmen  of  Christ  would  seem  to  make  the  conclusion  prob- 
able that  we  have  here  a  rudimentary  caliphate.  At  all 
events  no  similar  succession  is  to  be  found,  naturally,  on 
Gentile  soil.  So  peculiar  in  these  respects  were  the  Jeru- 
salem conditions  that  no  safe  conclusions  can  be  drawn 
from  them  as  to  development  elsewhere. 

The  service  of  the  Jerusalem  congregation  speedily  re- 
quired subdivision  of  labor.  A  dispute  regarding  the  distri- 
bution of  the  daily  food  led  to  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee of  seven  to  whom  the  task  could  be  entrusted  (Acts 

12 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

6:  1-6).  Whether  this  was  the  origin  of  the  diaconate,  as 
Christian  tradition  of  the  third  century  affirmed,  or  a  special 
committee  for  a  particular  need,  is  impossible  to  say.  The 
name  "deacon"  occurs  neither  in  connection  with  them  nor 
elsewhere  in  "Acts."  Yet  the  functions  entrusted  to  the 
men  thus  chosen  were  similar  in  nature  to  those  later  dis- 
charged by  deacons  in  the  Gentile  congregations.  One 
inference  from  this  early  act  of  the  Jerusalem  body  may  be 
justifiably  made,  namely,  that  it  is  always  in  the  power  of 
the  church  to  constitute  new  agencies  to  meet  new  necessi- 
ties as  they  arise.  If  primitive  Christianity  could  meet  the 
needs  of  its  dependent  widows  by  special  appointments, 
modern  Christianity  can  care  for  the  religious  training  of 
its  young  people  by  the  designation  of  a  Sunday  School 
superintendent,  and  such  officers  are  of  its  "ministry"  in 
the  one  case  as  truly  as  in  the  other. 

In  regard  to  one  further  organ  of  the  Jerusalem  congre- 
gation larger  knowledge  is  desirable.  In  speaking  of  the 
relief  sent  to  Judea  from  Antioch  in  the  famine  in  the 
reign  of  Claudius,  the  author  of  "Acts"  records  that  it  was 
received  by  the  "elders"  (Trpeo-ftvrepoi)  (Acts  11:30).  No 
hint  of  the  origin  of  the  group  thus  casually  designated  is 
given.  Hence  most  various  interpretations  have  been  given 
by  scholars.  By  some  they  have  been  looked  upon  as  iden- 
tical with  the  Committee  of  Seven  just  mentioned,  since 
their  reception  of  the  contribution  would  seem  fitting  for 
those  whose  duties  were  the  superintendence  of  distribution. 
By  more  scholars  they  have  been  considered  an  adoption  of 
the  familiar  officials  of  the  synagogue.  Others  believe  that 
the  author  of  "Acts"  has  thrown  back  into  a  more  primitive 
period  the  institutions  of  his  own  age.  Yet  others  maintain 
that  elders  were  not,  in  this  early  age,  officers  in  any  proper 
sense,  but  the  older  members  of  the  congregation  from  whom 
leaders  would  naturally  come.  While  the  author  of  "Acts" 
evidently  regards  elders  as  officers  (e.g.  14:  23;  15:  22;  20: 
17,  28),  countenance  is  lent  to  the  view  just  named  by  the 

13 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

very  ancient  document  which  he  has  preserved  in  connection 
with  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  which  it  issued  in  the  names 
of  "the  apostles  and  elder  brethren"  (Acts  15:  23).  The 
matter  is  further  complicated  by  the  declaration  of  the 
author  of  "Acts"  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  at  the  conclusion 
of  their  first  missionary  journey  "appointed  for  them  elders 
in  every  church"  (Acts  14:  23),  a  statement  which  is  with- 
out any  confirmation  in  any  of  the  epistles  unquestionably 
ascribed  to  Paul,  and  which  could  hardly  have  escaped  men- 
tion had  it  been  an  apostolic  practice.  Here  it  would  seem 
well-nigh  certain  that  the  author  is  reading  back  the  condi- 
tions of  later  years.  Yet  some  scholars  affirm  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  fresh  from  acquaintance  with  Palestinian  Chris- 
tianity, may  here  in  churches  prevailing  of  converts  of  Jewish 
antecedents  have  introduced  the  existing  customs  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  scantiness  of  the  evidence  renders  all  dogmatic 
assertion  unbecoming. 

When  Palestine  is  left  for  Gentile  soil  more  light  becomes 
evident,  thanks  to  the  contemporary  witness  of  Paul's  great 
epistles,  though  here  many  points  are  still  tantalizingly 
obscure.  Paul's  epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  in  particular, 
from  their  very  subject,  reveal  of  necessity  an  intimate  view 
of  the  state  of  the  Corinthian  church, — one  of  the  chief 
trophies  of  his  missionary  zeal  and  a  prime  object  of  his 
care.  The  outstanding  fact  that  impresses  the  reader  is  that 
while  Paul  exercised  a  patriarchal  authority  over  this  church 
of  his  foundation  (e.g.  I  Cor.  4:  14,  15;  5:  n;  7:  8,  25; 
n:  34;  14:  37;  II  Cor.  n:  8-10;  13:  2),  and  employed  his 
younger  assistants  in  the  work  (e.g.  I  Cor.  4:  17;  16:  10; 
II  Cor.  1:  19;  7:  6,  7;  8:  23),  there  are  no  traces  of  local 
officers  to  be  found  in  the  Corinthian  church.  The  disgrace- 
fully disorderly  scenes  at  the  Love  Feast  and  Lord's  Supper 
(I  Cor.  n:  17-34),  and  confusions  at  the  meeting  for 
instruction  and  worship  (I  Cor.  14:  26-40),  would  neces- 
sarily have  involved  an  exhortation  by  the  apostle  to  offi- 
cers had  any  such  existed.    The  nearest  intimation  of  any 

14 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

approach  towards  official  position  is  the  apostolic  entreaty- 
after  commendation  of  the  house  of  Stephanas,  "the  first- 
fruits  of  Achaia,"  "that  ye  also  be  in  subjection  unto  such, 
and  to  every  one  that  helpeth  in  the  work  and  laboreth" 
(I  Cor.  16:  15,  16).  That,  from  its  very  terms,  excludes 
Stephanas  from  any  exclusive  and  peculiar  authority.  His 
was  simply  a  free  leadership  in  Christian  good  works.  It 
will  be  well  to  bear  this  passage  in  mind  as  attention  will 
again  be  called  to  it  in  connection  with  the  rise  of  the  theory 
of  apostolical  succession. 

The  most  striking  thing  regarding  the  Corinthian  church 
is  the  atmosphere  of  Christian  enthusiasm.  All  the  activi- 
ties of  the  church  are  the  direct  result  of  the  inspiration  of 
the  Spirit  (I  Cor.  12:  1-31.  Compare  Rom.  12:  3-8),  all 
are  "gifts."  "God  hath  set  some  in  the  church,  first  apostles, 
secondly  prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then  miracles,  then  gifts 
of  healings,  helps,  governments,  kinds  of  tongues"  (I  Cor. 
12:  28).  Some  of  these  may  well  have  been  conceived  as 
permanent.  Paul  undoubtedly  so  regarded  his  apostolate, 
which  nevertheless  he  viewed  as  charismatic  (Gal.  1:  1); 
but  others  might  be  possessed  at  one  time  and  not  at 
another,  and  many  in  the  church  might  be  vehicles  of  these 
endowments  (I  Cor.  14:  26-33).  I*1  the  presence  of  this 
guidance  of  the  Spirit,  the  need  of  the  soberer  and  more 
prosaic  local  officers  did  not  make  itself  immediately  felt. 
This  condition  was  in  no  sense  peculiar  to  the  Corinthian 
church  (Acts  13:  1-3;  Rom.  12:  3-8;  Eph.  4:  7-1 1;  I  Thes. 
5:  19-21). 

Among  these  gifts  of  the  Spirit  there  stand  out  pre- 
eminently in  the  Pauline  list,  apostles,  prophets  and  teach- 
ers. The  prime  duty  of  the  apostle  was  the  founding  and 
supervision  of  churches.  The  usage  of  the  title  was  not  at 
first  strictly  confined  to  the  eleven  faithful  chosen  by  Christ, 
with  the  addition  of  Paul.  Barnabas  was  so  styled  (Acts 
14:  14).  Silvanus  and  Timothy  also  were  apparently  so 
designated  (I  Thes.  2:6).    Andronicus  and  Junias  were  so 

15 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

named  by  Paul  (Rom.  16:  7).  As  late  as  the  time  of  the 
"Didache"  travelling  missionaries  bore  the  name  apostle 
(Ch.  11).  Usage,  of  course,  applied  the  title  chiefly  to  the 
eleven  and  to  Paul.  It  was  early  felt  that  witness  to  the 
resurrection  was  an  essential  (Acts  1:  22;  I  Cor.  9:  1).  Yet 
in  the  first  generation  many  who  never  claimed  the  title 
apostle  were  witnesses  of  the  resurrection  (I  Cor.  15:6).  A 
further  criterion  developed.  The  apostle  must  have  been 
specially  called  by  Christ  to  his  work.  That  claim  Paul's 
opponents  denied  to  him,  and  his  utmost  endeavor  was  to 
assert  its  verity  (Gal.  1:  1;  2:  8;  II  Cor.  11:  5;  Rom.  1:  1). 
The  successful  vindication  of  that  contention  necessarily 
tended  to  limit  the  designation  to  the  eleven  and  Paul. 
Clement  of  Rome,  writing  between  93  and  97,  confines  the 
title  to  the  narrower  group  (Ch.  42).  In  that  sense  the 
apostles  could  have  no  successors.  Their  call  had  very 
widely,  by  the  close  of  the  first  century,  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  unique  vocation  by  Christ  for  a  special  work. 
Surviving  primitive  custom,  as  exemplified  in  the  "Didache," 
could  still  speak  of  travelling  missionaries  as  apostles,  but 
the  more  usual  designation  of  those  who  proclaimed  the 
Gospel  without  an  immediate  designation  by  Christ  was 
"evangelist"  (Acts  21:  8;  Eph.  4:  n;  II  Tim.  4:  5). 

Paul's  second  and  third  classifications  of  bearers  of  pre- 
eminent gifts  of  the  Spirit  are  those  of  prophets  and  teach- 
ers (I  Cor.  12:  28).  Just  what  the  difference  between  the 
two  may  have  been  it  is  impossible  to  say.  The  conjecture 
may  be  hazarded  that  the  prophet  was  considered  more  the 
vehicle  of  revelation  (I  Cor.  14:  29-31),  and  the  teacher 
more  the  instructor  in  already  known  truth  or  Gospel  story. 
However  that  may  have  been,  both  classes  were  charismatic 
men,  both  were,  like  the  apostles,  those  "which  spake  unto 
you  the  word  of  God"  (Heb.  13:  7),  and  the  authority  of 
both  was  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit.  They  might  wander 
from  congregation  to  congregation  or  they  might  settle  in 
the  community.    They  received  the  financial  support  of  the 

16 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

congregation  in  which  they  served  (Didache,  13).  What 
was  the  witness  to  the  prophet  that  his  message  was  from 
God  is  probably  a  mystery  of  consciousness  that  it  is  im- 
possible wholly  to  fathom.  Yet,  if  we  may  judge  by  the 
experience  of  Ignatius  (110-117),  it  was  an  intense  con- 
viction of  the  truth  that  he  uttered.  Ignatius's  message 
differed  in  no  respect  from  his  habitual  teaching;  but  it  was 
impressed  on  him  with  burning  earnestness.  "I  cried  out, 
when  I  was  among  you;  I  spoke  with  a  loud  voice,  with 
God's  own  voice  ...  it  was  the  preaching  of  the  Spirit" 
(Philadelphians,  7).  To  reject  the  Spirit  speaking  through 
these  messengers  was  the  unpardonable  sin  (Didache,  11). 
The  work  last  cited  is  of  great  importance  as  revealing  the 
decline  of  this  sense  of  direct  divine  guidance  which  burns 
so  brightly  in  the  Pauline  churches,  and  the  abuse  of  these 
claims  to  inspiration  by  the  unworthy.  The  "Didache"  does 
indeed  present  a  picture  so  unlike  the  traditional  portrait  of 
the  church  of  the  sub-apostolic  age  that  dogmatists  have 
occasionally  tried  to  discredit  it  by  suggestions  that  it  might 
represent  the  practices  of  some  obscure  or  even  heretical 
sect.  This  condemnation  is  wholly  without  warrant.  What 
the  "Didache"  does  is  to  present  the  survival  of  very  early 
conditions  in  some  rural  eastern  communities.  The  picture 
bears  the  traits  of  the  Pauline  churches,  yet  much  altered. 
Apostles,  prophets  and  teachers  still  speak  the  word  of 
God, — of  course  apostles  in  the  stricter  sense  are  not 
meant, — but  the  church  has  had  much  sorrowful  experience 
with  fraudulent  claimants  to  spiritual  gifts.  Their  claims 
are  still  recognized,  if  genuine;  but  the  faults  must  be 
guarded  against  (Ch.  n).  The  test  here  established  is 
that  which  the  Master  had  proclaimed:  "By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them"  (Mat.  7:  16).  "Not  every  one  that 
speaketh  in  the  Spirit  is  a  prophet,  but  only  if  he  have  the 
ways  of  the  Lord"  (Didache,  11).  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  prophets  survived  in  the  great  and  then  strongly  organ- 
ized Church  of  Rome  well  into  the  first  half  of  the  second 

17 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

century,  and  that  there  the  same  test  of  their  genuineness 
was  applied  (Hermas,  Vis.  2:4;  Man.  11).  To  the  writer 
of  "First  John"  a  test  to  distinguish  true  from  false  proph- 
ecy seemed  also  a  necessity;  but  he  found  it  in  orthodoxy  of 
doctrine  (4:  1-6). 

It  is  evident  that  by  the  dawn  of  the  second  century  the 
older  Pauline  conditions  were  passing  rapidly  away.  Char- 
ismatic gifts,  though  not  denied,  had  become  largely  dis- 
credited. Apostles,  prophets  and  teachers  belonged  to  a 
state  of  development  that  was  becoming  more  and  more 
antiquated,  even  if  the  title  teacher  was  to  survive  in  rural 
Egypt  till  far  into  the  third  century  (Eusebius,  "Church 
History,"  7:  24). 

Side  by  side  with  this  development  of  apostles,  prophets 
and  teachers  in  the  Pauline  churches  we  witness  the  devel- 
opment, apparently  from  much  humbler  beginnings,  of  a 
different  order  of  functions,  the  exercisers  of  which  were 
ultimately  to  become  officers  of  overshadowing  importance. 
The  early  Pauline  churches  were  democracies,  though  democ- 
racies led  by  spirit-filled  men.  Paul  called  on  the  congrega- 
tion at  Corinth  as  a  whole  to  exercise  discipline  on  the 
unworthy  (I  Cor.  5:  3-5;  II  Cor.  2:5-11).  Paul  urged  his 
churches  to  make  free-will  collections  for  the  poor  in  Jeru- 
salem; but  left  it  absolutely  to  the  congregation  to  choose 
who  should  bear  the  gift  (I  Cor.  16:  3,  4).  These  acts  can 
hardly  have  taken  place  without  leadership.  Many  inter- 
esting questions  arise  which  our  sources  do  not  permit  us  to 
answer.  Who  called  and  led  the  disciplinary  meeting? 
Who  collected  and  cared  for  the  money?  Who  entertained 
travelling  missionaries?  Who  looked  after  the  poor  and  the 
ill?  Who  led  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  at  least  when  the  apostle 
was  absent?  Regarding  the  matter  last  mentioned  the 
"Didache"  would  make  it  apparent  that  in  its  time  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  often  in  charge  of  the  prophets  (Ch.  10). 
For  the  early  Pauline  churches  our  sources  are  silent.  It 
may  have  been  the  prophets  and  teachers  who  did  these 

18 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

things ;  but  they  were  not  always  present  or  always  inspired. 
Their  primary  duty  was  to  speak  the  word  of  God. 

Rather  the  beginnings,  and  the  relatively  humble  begin- 
nings, of  such  local  ministrations  as  those  just  described,  are 
to  be  seen  in  a  group  of  services  which  Paul  describes  as 
"helps,  governments"  (I  Cor.  12:  28),  or  are  implied  in  his 
exhortation,  "he  that  ruleth  [let  him  do  it]  with  diligence" 
(Rom.  12:  8).  Paul  could  urge  the  Thessalonians:  "to 
know  them  that  labor  among  you  and  are  over  you  in  the 
Lord,  and  admonish  you,  and  to  esteem  them  very  highly  in 
love  for  their  work's  sake  (I  Thes.  5:  12,  13).  The  thought 
is  wholly  parallel  to  the  commendation  of  the  house  of 
Stephanas  who  have  "set  themselves  to  minister  unto  the 
saints,  that  ye  also  be  in  subjection  unto  such,  and  to  every 
one  that  helpeth  in  the  work  and  laboreth"  (I  Cor.  16:  15, 
16).  These  are  not  officers.  They  are  charismatic  men. 
They  are  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  (I  Cor.  12:  28) ;  but  they  are 
also  men  whom  the  congregation  could  trust  for  leadership 
in  "ministering  unto  the  saints"  in  multitudinous  local  needs. 

Then  too,  it  is  obvious  that  another  leadership  would  grow 
up  in  the  course  of  a  few  years.  When  first  planted  the 
members  of  the  congregation  would  doubtless  be  of  about 
the  same  brevity  of  Christian  experience.  A  few  years  must 
have  made  a  great  change.  There  would  be  now  those  in 
the  congregation  older  in  years,  and,  what  is  more  impor- 
tant, older  in  Christian  experience.  This  note  of  respect 
appears  when  Paul  writes:  "Salute  Andronicus  and  Junias, 
my  kinsmen,  and  my  fellow-prisoners,  who  are  of  note  among 
the  apostles,  who  also  have  been  in  Christ  before  me"  (Rom. 
16:  7).  We  have  thus  speedily  a  group  of  elders  command- 
ing high  respect,  and  in  many  instances  those,  also,  who 
"have  set  themselves  to  minister  unto  the  saints."  It  will  be 
recalled  that  the  house  of  Stephanas  was  "the  firstfruits  of 
Achaia"  (I  Cor.  16:15).  It  may  be  that  the  rise  of  "elders" 
(irpeo-pvTepoi) ,  on  Gentile  soil  was  an  imitation  of  Jewish 
practice  or  of  Palestinian  usage;  but  the  explanation  just 

19 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

suggested  seems  quite  as  probable.  It  explains  why  the 
term  elder  is  lacking  in  the  earlier  Pauline  epistles,  and 
why  it  is  to  be  found  near  the  close  of  his  life  and  in  the 
literature  of  the  generation  after  his  death  (e.g.  Acts  20:  17; 
I  Pet.  5:  1-5;  James  5:  14).  These  Gentile  elders  may  well 
have  been  at  first  in  no  respect  officers,  but  they  grew  speed- 
ily into  the  position  of  official  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the 
local  congregation  which  the  passages  just  cited  imply. 

There  was  also  a  similar  growth  towards  official  status  in 
the  exercisers  of  the  "helps"  and  "governments."  In  one  of 
Paul's  latest  letters,  addressing  one  of  his  oldest  missionary 
churches,  the  Philippians,  he  speaks  of  "the  bishops  and 
deacons"  (Phil.  1:1).  It  may  well  be  that  these  names 
are  not  yet  descriptive  of  office,  but  of  functions,  "those  who 
oversee  and  those  who  serve."  The  two  classifications  well 
characterize  the  duties  of  "helps"  and  "governments";  but 
the  trend  towards  their  consolidation  into  an  official  status 
is  obvious.  There  are  those  now  who  with  some  considerable 
regularity,  if  not  indeed  with  permanence,  "oversee"  and 
"serve."  The  same  growth  is  seen,  with  an  amalgamation 
of  the  functions  of  elder  and  overseer,  in  one  of  Paul's 
largest  churches,  that  of  Ephesus.  For  his  farewell  exhorta- 
tion he  summons  the  "elders"  of  the  church  to  Miletus  and 
addresses  them  as  "bishops"  (Acts  20:  17,  28).  Their  desig- 
nation is  charismatic,  "the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  bish- 
ops (overseers)";  but  though  still  charismatic  it  is  an  endue- 
ment  which  gives  them  a  special  position  in  the  church  which 
they  are  to  feed.  Dischargers  of  functions  are  crystallizing 
into  officers. 

Thirty  years  after  Paul's  martyrdom,  that  which  in  Paul's 
last  days  is  still  in  the  gristle,  has  become  firm  and  definite. 

A  quarrel  had  arisen  in  the  Corinthian  church  which  in 
Paul's  time  had  been  marked  by  divisions  (I  Cor.  1:  10-13; 
3:  3-4).  Certain  "appointed  presbyters"  had  been  "dis- 
placed," who  had  "offered  the  gifts  of  the  bishop's  office  un- 
blamably  and  holily"   (I  Clem.  44:  54).     The  Church  of 

20 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

Rome  sent  a  letter  of  protest  and  entreaty  written  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  congregation,  some  time  between  93  and 
97.  Though  bearing  no  name  save  that  of  the  Roman 
church,  its  author  was  unquestionably  Clement.  Clement 
has  in  high  measure  the  Roman  sense  of  order  and  regular- 
ity. Though  prophets  undoubtedly  still  continued  in  the 
Roman  church,  as  Hermas  makes  evident  some  years  later, 
and  may  possibly  be  indicated  by  Clement  under  the  desig- 
nation "rulers"  (Ch.  1);  his  interest  is  in  the  presbyter- 
bishops,  for  he  uses  the  terms  apparently  interchangeably. 
With  them  he  mentions  the  deacons  (Ch.  42).  To  him  they 
are  fully  officers.  They  offer  the  "gifts."  It  could  be  wished 
that  these  ministrations  were  more  fully  denned,  but  the 
term  would  appear  to  include  the  service  of  prayer,  the 
Eucharist,  and  the  financial  offerings  of  the  congregation. 
They  may  have  taught,  but  nothing  is  said  of  teaching. 
That  function  may  have  been  exercised  by  the  still  existing 
prophets  and  teachers  (Hermas,  Vis.  2:  4;  3:  5).  By  the 
time  of  Clement  the  process  has  been  completed  by  which 
those  who  exercised  "helps"  and  "governments,"  who  "over- 
saw" and  who  "served"  have  become  fully  permanent 
officers. 

Yet  this  was  not  the  most  significant  development.  Not 
only  were  presbyter-bishops  and  deacons  officers,  Clement, 
first  of  Christian  writers,  presents  the  doctrine  of  a  succes- 
sion of  apostolical  institution  in  which  they  stand.  His 
statement  is  as  follows  (Ch.  42,  44): 

The  apostles  received  the  Gospel  for  us  from  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ;  Jesus  Christ  was  sent  forth  from  God.  So 
then  Christ  is  from  God,  and  the  apostles  are  from  Christ. 
Both  therefore  came  of  the  will  of  God  in  the  appointed 
order.  Having  therefore  received  a  charge,  and  having  been 
fully  assured  through  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  confirmed  in  the  word  of  God  with  full  assurance 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  went  forth  with  the  glad  tidings 
that  the  Kingdom  of  God  should  come.    So  preaching  every- 

21 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

where  in  country  and  town  they  appointed  their  firstfruits, 
when  they  had  proved  them  by  the  Spirit,  to  be  bishops  and 
deacons  unto  them  that  should  believe. 

And  our  apostles  knew  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that 
there  would  be  strife  over  the  name  of  the  bishop's  office. 
For  this  cause  therefore,  having  received  complete  fore- 
knowledge, they  appointed  the  aforesaid  persons,  and  after- 
wards they  provided  a  continuance  [law?],  that  if  these 
should  fall  asleep,  other  approved  men  should  succeed  to 
their  ministration.  Those  therefore  who  were  appointed  by 
them,  or  afterwards  by  other  men  of  repute  with  the  consent 
of  the  whole  church  .  .  .  these  men  we  consider  to  be 
unjustly  thrust  out  from  their  ministration. 

Nothing  could  be  clearer  than  Clement's  theory  of  suc- 
cession. The  bishops  and  deacons  of  his  day  were  in  office 
as  the  successors  of  those  originally  appointed  by  the 
apostles  themselves.  It  will  be  noted,  however,  that  he 
does  not  say  that  they  were  successors  to  the  apostles. 
They  are  in  offices  founded  by  the  apostles.  But  fortu- 
nately Clement  himself  has  given  us  a  clue  to  test  the 
historical  accuracy  of  his  conviction.  He  was  thoroughly 
familiar  with  Paul's  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians  (see  Ch. 
37,  47,  49).  He  tells  us  that  the  apostles  appointed  their 
"firstfruits"  as  bishops  and  deacons.  He  is  writing  to  the 
Corinthians.  That  is  the  very  description  which  Paul  had 
used  of  the  house  of  Stephanas  in  Corinth  in  exhorting  to 
"subjection  unto  such  and  to  every  one  that  helpeth  in  the 
work  and  laboreth"  (I  Cor.  16:  15,  16).  Paul  had  not  ap- 
pointed Stephanas  to  anything.  His  household  had  been 
charismatic  bearers  of  "helps"  and  "governments"  when 
Paul  wrote.  Such  exercisers  of  "helps"  and  "governments" 
had  become  bishops  and  deacons.  Their  office  was  now 
definite  but  their  charismatic  origin  was  now  well-nigh 
forgotten.  To  Clement  it  doubtless  seemed  that  the  "first- 
fruits  of  Achaia"  were  appointed  to  offices  identical  with 
those  which  had  developed  out  of  the  services  then  com- 

22 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

mended  in  them.  Furthermore,  both  at  Rome  and  at 
Corinth,  men  like  Clement  doubtless  remembered,  or  had 
heard  of,  a  whole  series  of  men,  the  spiritual  antecedents  of 
the  existing  bishops  and  deacons,  who  made  an  unofficial 
succession  of  service  back  to  the  "helps"  and  "governments" 
of  Stephanas's  day.  The  development  had  been  a  gradual 
one,  but  in  claiming  an  apostolical  succession,  Clement  was 
claiming  too  much.  With  the  confident  assertion  of  apos- 
tolical succession  Clement  had  laid  a  corner  stone  of  later 
episcopal  authority. 

Clement  regarded  the  bishops  and  deacons  of  his  age  as 
in  office  by  appointment  by  apostles  or  "other  men  of 
repute  with  the  consent  of  the  whole  church."  Just  what 
this  "consent"  involved  the  sources  do  not  permit  a  judg- 
ment; but  any  share  in  what  was  originally  a  charismatic 
enduement  indicates  a  very  considerable  modification  of 
primitive  conditions.  While  Rome  and  Corinth  might 
believe  the  succession  of  bishops  and  deacons  traceable 
from  apostolic  times,  that  was  not  the  conviction  in  other 
parts  of  the  church.  As  we  shall  speedily  have  occasion  to 
see  Ignatius,  himself,  undoubtedly  monarchical  bishop  of 
the  great  church  of  Antioch,  writing  to  the  churches  of  Asia 
Minor  as  late  as  110-117,  had  no  thought  of  an  apostolical 
succession.  In  the  "Didache"  it  is  the  unreliability  of  the 
prophets  and  teachers,  and  the  necessity  of  providing  for 
orderly  worship  and  government  in  their  absence  that  is  the 
cause  impelling  to  the  appointment  of  bishops  and  deacons 
(Ch.  15). 

Appoint  for  yourselves  therefore  bishops  and  deacons 
worthy  of  the  Lord,  men  who  are  meek  and  not  lovers  of 
money,  and  true  and  approved;  for  unto  you  they  also  per- 
form the  service  of  the  prophets  and  teachers.  Therefore 
despise  them  not;  for  they  are  your  honorable  men  along 
with  the  prophets  and  teachers. 

While  the  prophets  can  still  lead  in  worship  in  the  words 
with  which  they  are  inspired,  a  simple  liturgy  is  offered  in 

23 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

the  "Didache"  for  the  use  of  these  less  gifted  bishops. 
There  is  no  thought  in  their  case  of  charismatic  enduement. 
The  apostolic  age  is  of  the  past,  but  there  is  no  conception 
of  an  apostolical  succession.  The  choice  of  these  bishops 
and  deacons  is  simply  by  the  church.  It  is  evident  that 
the  development  was  not  everywhere  uniform. 

In  Clement's  letter  to  the  Corinthians  from  which  quota- 
tion has  been  made,  the  presbyter-bishops  are  spoken  of  in 
the  plural.  The  plural  is  also  used  of  bishops  in  the 
"Didache."  Polycarp's  letter  to  the  Philippians,  written 
between  no  and  117,  enters  quite  fully  into  the  require- 
ments for  local  officers,  emphasizing  the  necessity  of  high 
character,  their  duties  of  care  of  souls,  and  of  provision  for 
widows  and  orphans  (Ch.  5,  6).  He  speaks  only  of  pres- 
byters and  deacons.  It  is  incredible  that  Polycarp  would 
not  have  described  similarly  the  duties  of  a  monarchical 
bishop  had  there  been  one  in  the  church  of  Philippi. 
Ignatius,  writing  contemporaneously  to  the  Romans,  has 
no  allusion  to  any  monarchical  bishop  there.  Hermas 
though  described  by  the  Muratorian  Canon,  about  190, 
as  having  written  when  his  brother  Pius  was  bishop  of 
Rome,  shows  no  trace  in  his  work,  which  was  composed 
between  115  and  140,  of  any  monarchical  bishop  at  Rome, 
and  speaks  expressly  of  "the  elders  that  preside  over  the 
church"  (Vis.  2:4).  Indeed,  Rome  does  not  seem  to  have 
had  a  monarchical  bishop  till  Anicetus  (about  154-167). 
Lightfoot's  contention  that  the  names  enumerated  in  the 
traditional  list  of  Roman  bishops  (Irenaeus,  "Against 
Heresies,"  3:3)  were  from  the  beginning  those  of  "bishops 
in  the  sense  of  monarchical  rulers  of  the  Roman  church." 
("Apostolic  Fathers.  S.  Clement  of  Rome,"  London,  1890, 
1 :  201-341,  see  340)  has  been  destructively  answered  by 
Harnack  ("Die  Chronologie  der  altchristlichen  Litteratur," 
Leipzig,  1897,  2d  Part,  Vol.  1:  144-202).  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  the  persons  named  before  Anicetus  were 
historical  characters,  were  influential  in  the  Roman  church, 

24 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

and  were  of  its  presbyter-bishops;  but,  in  view  of  the  testi- 
mony of  Clement  and  Hermas  they  were  not  monarchical 
bishops.  It  is  plain  therefore  that  till  into  the  second  cen- 
tury the  older  presidency  of  a  group  of  presbyter-bishops, 
the  origin  of  which  has  been  traced  to  its  informal  be- 
ginnings near  the  close  of  Paul's  life,  persisted  in  Rome, 
Greece  and  Macedonia,  and  in  the  eastern  region  where  the 
"Didache"  was  written. 

A  further  stage  in  the  development  described  is  revealed 
in  the  Pastoral  Epistles.  These  purport  to  be  Pauline. 
They  are  not  from  Paul's  pen  as  a  whole,  though  fragments 
of  brief  Pauline  notes  may  be  imbedded  in  them, — more 
probably  in  "Second  Timothy"  than  in  "First  Timothy"  or 
"Titus."  As  a  whole,  their  linguistic  peculiarities  show 
marked  unlikeness  to  Paul's  unquestionable  letters.  Their 
doctrinal  outlooks  show  serious  modifications  of  Paul's 
familiar  emphases;  and  the  rising  heresies  encountered  in 
them  were  later  in  manifestation  than  Paul's  time.  They 
must  have  been  composed  before  110-117,  since  they  are 
quoted  in  Polycarp's  letter  to  the  Philippians.  A  probable 
supposition  would  therefore  assign  them  to  the  last  decade 
of  the  first  century  or  the  first  of  the  second  century. 

The  Pastorals  represent  Timothy  and  Titus  charged  by 
Paul,  as  his  representatives,  with  the  duty  of  maintaining 
sound  doctrine  and  repressing  heresies  in  the  church,  with 
preserving  good  order  and  procuring  officers  of  high  char- 
acter. It  is  Titus's  charge  to  "appoint  elders  (presbyters) 
in  every  city"  of  Crete  (1:  5).  The  character  of  bishops 
and  deacons  is  fully  described  (I  Tim.  3:  1-13;  Titus 
1:  6-9).  The  "office  of  a  bishop"  is  one  that  can  be  sought 
(I  Tim.  3:  1).  It  is  not  primarily  therefore  charismatic; 
though  there  is  in  Timothy  a  "gift"  "given  thee  by  prophesy, 
with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery"  (I  Tim. 
4:  14).  That,  or  a  similar,  "gift  of  God"  is  in  Timothy 
"through  the  laying  on  of  my  [Paul's]  hands"  (II  Tim. 
1:6).    The  bishop  is  spoken  of  throughout  in  the  singular, 

25 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

presbyters  usually  in  the  plural.  This  consideration  would 
point  toward  the  monarchical  episcopate;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  order  of  thought  in  Titus  i:  5-9,  unless  there  is 
interpolation  here,  would  seem  to  imply  that  bishops  and 
presbyters  (elders)  are  identical.  It  is  therefore  difficult 
to  say  whether  the  Pastorals  recognize  a  twofold  or  a 
threefold  distinction  in  office.  In  one  important  respect 
they  exhibit  a  change  from  the  situation  presented  by 
Clement.  Nothing  was  said  by  him  of  teaching  by  pres- 
byter-bishops. In  the  Pastorals  teaching  is  a  prime  duty  of 
the  bishop  or  presbyter  (I  Tim.  3:  2;  5:  17;  Titus  1:9). 
It  is  plain  that  the  functions  of  the  prophets  and  teachers 
of  Pauline  days  have  been  largely  absorbed  by  the  more 
permanent  local  officers.  It  could  be  said  of  the  bishops 
and  presbyters  of  the  Pastorals  as  it  was  of  the  bishops 
and  deacons  of  the  "Didache,"  "for  unto  you  they  also  per- 
form the  service  of  the  prophets  and  teachers."  The  reasons 
for  these  changes  are  not  far  to  seek.  Not  only  were 
prophets  and  teachers  becoming  discredited  through  the 
unworthy,  as  the  "Didache"  shows;  but  if  the  prime  duty 
of  leaders  of  the  church  was  now  conceived  to  be  to  guard 
"the  sound  doctrine"  (I  Tim.  1:  10),  that  could  be  much 
more  effectually  done  through  permanent  regular  officials 
than  through  the  uncontrollable  and  uncertain  utterances 
of  prophets.  From  that  point  of  view,  the  prophets  were 
a  danger  rather  than  a  help. 

All  these  developments  which  are  obscurely  indicated  in 
the  Pastorals  are  abundantly  plain  in  the  letters  of  Ignatius 
of  Antioch  written,  between  no  and  117,  to  the  churches  of 
western  Asia  Minor  and  of  Rome  and  to  Polycarp.  Ignatius 
was  himself  the  monarchical  bishop  of  Antioch,  though  he 
styled  himself  "the  bishop  from  Syria"  (Rom.  2) — a  desig- 
nation which  may  contain  the  germ  of  that  sense  of  the 
importance  of  the  bishops  of  the  capital  cities  of  the  empire 
from  which  the  metropolitan  office  was  to  develop.  There 
were  also  monarchical  bishops  in  the  towns  about  Antioch 

26 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

(Philadelphians,  10).  In  writing  to  Rome  Ignatius  men- 
tions no  bishop.  A  sufficient  reason  is  to  be  seen  in  the  fact 
that  there  was  then  no  monarchical  bishop  in  Rome.  Each 
of  the  five  churches  of  Asia  Minor,  however,  to  which  he 
wrote  had  a  monarchical  bishop,  presbyters  and  deacons. 
The  threefold  order  was  in  full  existence.  He  mentions  the 
bishops  of  Ephesus,  Magnesia,  Tralles  and  Smyrna  by 
name.  There  is  no  hint  in  Ignatius's  letter  that  he  regarded 
the  monarchical  episcopate  as  a  new  institution,  though  in 
two  of  these  churches  it  did  not  command  the  undisputed 
authority  that  he  wished  for  it  (Trallians,  3;  Philadelphians, 
1,  7).  When  the  institution  originated  in  these  churches 
there  is  at  present  no  evidence;  but  in  the  case  of  the  oldest 
church  of  this  group  in  Asia  Minor,  that  of  Ephesus,  it  is 
plain  that  it  must  have  come  into  being  between  the  time, 
some  half  century  or  more  before,  when  Paul  had  summoned 
the  presbyter-bishops  of  Ephesus  to  Miletus  (Acts  20:  17, 
28)  and  that  at  which  Ignatius  wrote. 

An  orderly  church,  to  Ignatius's  thinking,  is  one  "zealous 
to  do  all  things  in  godly  concord,  the  bishop  presiding  after 
the  likeness  of  God  and  the  presbyters  after  the  likeness  of 
the  council  of  the  apostles,  with  the  deacons  also"  (Mag- 
nesians,  6;  see  also  Trallians,  3).  The  deacons  are  subject 
to  the  bishop  and  presbyters  (Magnesians,  2).  The  bishop 
was  so  distinctly  the  superior  that  even  though  young,  as  in 
Magnesia,  the  presbyters  his  elders  "have  not  taken  ad- 
vantage of  his  outwardly  youthful  estate,  but  give  place  to 
him  as  to  one  prudent  in  God"  (Magnesians,  3).  Ignatius 
had  no  thought  whatever  of  an  apostolical  succession  in  this 
episcopate.  The  conviction  of  the  Roman  Clement  was 
outside  his  interest  or  knowledge.  Ignatius  entered  into  the 
duties  of  bishops  with  some  fullness.  They  should  control 
the  services  and  the  administration  of  the  sacraments 
(Smyrneans,  8).  They  care  for  souls,  they  are  protectors  of 
widows  and  slaves,  their  consent  to  marriage  should  be 
sought,  they  call  the  church  together  to  act  (Polycarp  1-7). 

27 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

Regarding  the  specific  duties  of  presbyters  and  deacons 
little  can  be  gathered  from  Ignatius. 

Even  more  strongly  than  in  the  Pastorals,  with  Ignatius 
the  peril  of  the  time  is  heresy.  That  heresy  is  more  defi- 
nitely defined  than  in  the  Pastorals.  It  was  chiefly  docetic 
(Trallians,  9-1 1;  Smyrneans,  1,  5).  It  led  to  separations 
from  the  congregation,  neglect  of  care  for  the  needy  and 
rejection  of  the  Lord's  Supper  (Ephesians,  5;  Smyrneans,  6). 
That  evil  heresy  Ignatius  held  with  intensity  of  conviction 
can  only  be  combated  by  unity,  and  that  unity  can  be  pre- 
served only  by  closest  harmony  with  the  monarchical  bishop. 
That  is  the  burden  of  all  his  message. 

Shun  (Smyrneans,  8)  divisions  as  the  beginning  of  evils. 
Do  you  all  follow  your  bishop,  as  Jesus  Christ  followed  the 
Father,  and  the  presbytery  as  the  apostles;  and  to  the 
deacons  pay  respect,  as  to  God's  commandment.  Let  no 
man  do  aught  of  things  pertaining  to  the  church  apart  from 
the  bishop.  Let  that  be  held  a  valid  eucharist  which  is  under 
the  bishop  or  one  to  whom  he  shall  have  committed  it. 
Wheresoever  the  bishop  shall  appear,  there  let  the  people 
be;  even  as  where  Jesus  may  be,  there  is  the  universal  [cath- 
olic] church.  It  is  not  lawful  apart  from  the  bishop  either  to 
baptize  or  to  hold  a  love- feast;  but  whatsoever  he  shall 
approve,  this  is  well-pleasing  also  to  God;  that  everything 
which  ye  do  may  be  sure  and  valid. 

So  much  more  imposing  a  figure  did  the  bishop  of  sub- 
sequent centuries  become,  that  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to 
grasp  the  simplicity  and  naturalness  of  Ignatius's  advice. 
His  bishop  is  no  diocesan  ruler,  but  the  head  of  a  single 
congregation,  or  at  most  of  the  few  scattered  groups  meet- 
ing for  safety  in  private  houses  in  a  single  city.  He  re- 
sembles the  pastor  of  a  modern  congregation.  And  what 
better  provision  for  avoiding  divisions  could  Ignatius  give 
than  the  exhortation:  submit  to  your  pastor,  hold  to  him, 
let  his  leadership  be  supreme  in  ajl  the  worship  and  life  of 
the  congregation. 

28 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

How  this  change  came  about  by  which  the  name  bishop 
became  the  title  of  only  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  congrega- 
tion, that  is,  how  the  monarchical  bishopric  was  established, 
the  absence  of  evidence  makes  it  impossible  to  say  in  detail. 
The  suggestion  of  Hatch  that  the  prominence  of  the  mon- 
archical bishop  had  its  origin  in  superintendency  of  the 
financial  administration  and  poor  relief  of  the  congregation 
("The  Organization  of  the  early  Christian  Churches,"  5th 
ed.  London,  1895)  is  now  generally  regarded  as  a  partial 
and  one-sided  interpretation.  The  bishop  did,  indeed,  have 
the  care  of  the  needy  as  a  duty.  (Ignatius  to  Polycarp,  4). 
By  the  middle  of  the  second  century  he  received  and  adminis- 
tered the  gifts  by  which  he  "takes  care  of  all  who  are  in 
need"  (Justin  Martyr,  "Apology,"  67).  Doubtless  some 
one  had  prime  care  of  these  funds  from  the  time  when  they 
were  first  collected,  that  is  from  the  founding  of  Christian 
congregations.  But  to  seek  the  origin  of  monarchical  epis- 
copacy primarily  in  such  financial  administration  is  to  over- 
look other  and  more  important  contributing  causes. 

A  yet  more  significant  root  of  the  monarchical  bishopric 
would  appear  to  be  leadership  in  public  worship  and 
especially  in  presidency  at  the  Eucharist.  Unfortunately 
the  evidence  here  is  scanty.  We  know  much  of  the  abuses 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  Corinthian  church,  but  nothing 
of  the  method  of  its  administration  (I  Cor.  11:  17-34).  The 
"Didache"  gives  a  liturgy  for  the  use  of  the  presbyter- 
bishops  when  no  prophets  are  present  (Ch.  9,  10).  Accord- 
ing to  Clement  the  presbyter-bishops  offer  "the  gifts  of  the 
bishop's  office"  (Ch.  44).  It  is  evident  that  leadership 
in  such  service  cannot  long  permanently  be  divided.  The 
presbyter-bishops  may  have  exercised  some  sort  of  rotation, 
but  fitness  would  be  sure  to  be  manifested  more  in  one  than 
another,  and  leadership  in  these  services  would  tend  more 
and  more  to  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  one.  In  the  time 
of  Justin  Martyr  (153)  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered 
in  Rome  by  "the  president  of  the  brethren"  (Apology,  65). 

29 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

That  the  "president  of  the  brethren"  was  fully  a  monarchical 
bishop  at  Rome  at  this  time  is  doubtful,  or  that  he  was 
always  the  same  person  is  not  made  certain  by  the  phrase; 
but  the  tendency  to  confine  ordinary  leadership  to  the  most 
fit,  and  to  regard  the  leader  as  the  most  eminent  man  in  the 
church,  must  have  been  overwhelming.  Leadership  in 
worship  would  associate  with  itself  leadership  in  all  other 
interests  of  the  church. 

Furthermore  when  the  presbyter-bishops  existed  there  can 
never  have  been  full  actual  equality.  No  committee  can  act 
without  some  sort  of  headship,  however  informal.  Among 
the  presbyter-bishops  one  or  another  would  stand  out  as 
specially  gifted,  as  the  man  of  authority,  and  would  tend  to 
gather  the  reins  of  leadership  into  his  hands,  or  have  leader- 
ship forced  upon  him.  Such  a  man  may  Clement  of  Rome 
well  have  been.  His  ability  was  such  that  he  wrote  the 
remonstrance  with  Corinth  in  the  name  of  the  Roman  com- 
munion. As  Harnack  has  well  said,  "it  is  impossible  to  say 
when  the  monarchical  bishopric  began"  ("Entstehung  und 
Entwickelung  der  Kirchen  Verfassung,"  Leipzig,  19 10,  p. 
72).  Its  completion  was  when  the  title  bishop,  with  the 
powers  involved,  became  the  property  of  one  only,  and  was 
no  longer  shared  with  several;  but  the  actual  leadership  of 
which  this  was  the  completion  must  have  been  manifested 
among  the  presbyter-bishops  in  varying  degrees  of  fullness 
long  before.  By  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  the 
older  Pauline  order  was  largely  gone.  The  apostles,  now 
restricted,  save  in  remote  communions  like  those  for  which 
the  "Didache"  was  written,  to  the  eleven  and  Paul,  were 
no  more.  The  evangelists  were  also  practically  a  memory. 
(Ill  John  may  record  one  of  the  instances  of  waning  evan- 
gelistic superintendence  in  contest  with  rising  local  author- 
ity; perhaps  a  dawning  monarchical  episcopate.)  The 
prophets  still  continued,  but  were  to  be  increasingly  dis- 
credited till  rejected  by  the  great  church  in  its  struggle  with 
Montanism,  the  teachers,  though  to  last  longer  (Hennas, 

30 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

Vis.  3:5),  were  now  becoming  less  significant  and  were  to 
survive  longest  in  remote  rural  districts  as  in  Egypt  (ante 
p.  18).  The  duties  and  powers  and  endowments  of  these 
earlier  leaders  were  passing  rapidly,  in  popular  estimate,  to 
the  permanent  local  officers  of  the  church,  especially  to  the 
rising  monarchical  episcopate.  The  Christian  message  was 
conceived  now,  not  as  a  divinely  inspired  utterance  through 
charismatic  men,  but  as  a  deposit  of  truth  to  be  guarded  and 
handed  down.  "The  things  which  thou  hast  heard  from  me 
among  many  witnesses,  the  same  commit  thou  to  faithful 
men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others  also"  (II  Tim.  2:2). 
This  deposit  was  a  "faith  which  was  once  for  all  delivered 
unto  the  saints"  (Jude,  3). 

All  these  tendencies  were  emphasized  by  the  gigantic 
struggle  with  Gnosticism  that  threatened  the  very  life  of  the 
church  from  about  145  for  more  than  half  a  century.  Many 
of  the  Gnostics  were  men  of  great  abilities.  Probably  the 
historic  "Catholic"  church  of  the  latter  half  of  the  second 
century  contained  no  equals  in  mental  power  to  set  over 
against  the  chief  est  of  the  Gnostics.  That  the  historic 
church  won  in  this  struggle  was  due  to  its  firmer  organiza- 
tion and  its  emphasis  on  the  continuity  of  its  tradition.  In 
this  contest  creed  and  canon  were  formed,  but,  above  all, 
victory  was  achieved  by  the  assertion  that  the  Catholic 
church  was  the  successor  of  original  Christianity  in  doctrine, 
worship  and  organization.  (A  most  interesting  study  of 
how  the  struggling  church  of  the  Gnostic  crisis  sought  to 
emphasize  successions  is  that  of  Cuthbert  H.  Turner,  en- 
titled "Apostolic  Succession,"  in  the  volume  edited  by  the 
late  H.  B.  Swete,  "Essays  on  the  early  History  of  the  Church 
and  the  Ministry,"  London,  19 18.)  Under  these  influences 
the  monarchical  episcopate  rapidly  extended.  It  was  emi- 
nently adapted  to  meet  the  rising  heresy.  By  155,  Rome 
and  Corinth  had  monarchical  bishops;  by  the  close  of  the 
century  they  had  become  the  universal  rule.  The  position 
of  the  bishop  was  immensely  strengthened  by  the  general 

3i 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

acceptance  of  the  conviction,  first  clearly  formulated  by 
Clement  of  Rome,  at  a  time  when  Rome  had  as  yet  no 
monarchical  bishop  (ante,  p.  22),  that  the  bishop's  office 
was  of  apostolic  foundation  and  had  been  maintained  since 
the  first  appointments  by  the  apostles  in  continuous  suc- 
cession. 

Of  this  completed  development  Irenaeus  is  the  earliest 
witness.  His  great  treatise,  "Against  Heresies,"  was  written 
in  opposition  to  Gnosticism  about  185.  His  argument 
against  Gnosticism  runs  as  follows  (3:  1-3): 

The  apostles  had  "perfect  knowledge"  of  the  Gospel,  and 
that  Gospel  has  been  put  in  writing  by  the  apostles  or  their 
immediate  disciples. 

Matthew  also  issued  a  written  Gospel  among  the  Hebrews 
in  their  own  dialect,  while  Peter  and  Paul  were  preaching 
at  Rome  and  laying  the  foundations  of  the  church.  After 
their  departure,  Mark,  the  disciple  and  interpreter  of  Peter, 
did  also  hand  down  to  us  in  writing  what  had  been  preached 
by  Peter.  Luke  also,  the  companion  of  Paul,  recorded  in  a 
book  the  Gospel  preached  by  him  [i.e.  by  Paul].  After- 
wards, John,  the  disciple  of  the  Lord,  who  also  had  leaned 
upon  His  breast,  did  himself  publish  a  Gospel  during  his 
residence  at  Ephesus  in  Asia. 

The  teachings  which  are  enshrined  in  these  Gospels  are 
those  Irenaeus  declared,  which  every  Christian  must  accept, 
and  are  the  refutation  of  Gnosticism. 

It  is  beside  the  present  purpose  to  inquire  into  the  historic 
accuracy  of  Irenaeus's  statements.  His  conviction  is  clear 
that  the  church  possessed  the  absolute  teaching  of  the  apos- 
tles,— now  wholly  used  in  the  sense  of  the  original  apostles 
and  Paul, — in  its  four  familiar  Gospels. 

Irenaeus  knew,  however,  that  he  had  thus  far  met  only 
one  side  of  the  Gnostic  contention.  The  Gnostics  alleged 
"that  the  truth  was  not  delivered  by  means  of  written  docu- 
ments, but  viva  voce:  wherefore  also  Paul  declared,  'But 
we  speak  wisdom  among  those  that  are  perfect,  but  not  the 

32 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

wisdom  of  this  world'  "  (I  Cor.  2:6).  That  viva  voce  teach- 
ing the  Gnostics  claimed  to  represent.  Irenaeus  had  a  more 
difficult  task  to  answer  here,  but  he  accomplished  it  skill- 
fully: 

We  are  in  a  position  to  reckon  up  those  who  were  by  the 
apostles  instituted  bishops  in  the  churches,  and  the  succes- 
sion of  these  men  to  our  own  times;  those  who  neither 
taught  nor  knew  of  anything  like  what  these  [heretics] 
rave  about.  For  if  the  apostles  had  known  hidden  mysteries, 
which  they  were  in  the  habit  of  imparting  to  the  "perfect" 
apart  and  privily  from  the  rest,  they  would  have  delivered 
them  especially  to  those  to  whom  they  were  also  committing 
the  churches  themselves.  For  they  were  desirous  that  these 
men  should  be  very  perfect  and  blameless  in  all  things,  whom 
also  they  were  leaving  behind  as  their  successors,  delivering 
up  their  own  place  of  government  to  these  men. 

Irenaeus  then  referred  the  inquirer  to  the  "tradition  de- 
rived from  the  apostles,  of  the  very  great,  very  ancient,  and 
universally  known  church  founded  and  organized  at  Rome 
by  the  two  most  glorious  apostles  Peter  and  Paul";  and  then 
presented  a  list  of  Roman  bishops  extending  from  the  apos- 
tles to  his  own  day.  (For  the  nature  of  this  list  see  ante,  p. 
24.)  This  succession,  Irenaeus  asserted,  guaranteed  the 
continuity  of  apostolic  teaching;  and  "it  is  not  necessary  to 
seek  the  truth  among  others  which  it  is  easy  to  obtain  from 
the  church;  since  the  apostles,  like  a  rich  man  in  a  bank, 
lodged  in  her  hands  most  copiously  all  things  pertaining  to 
the  truth"  (3:  4). 

Under  the  circumstances  of  the  time,  with  doctrine  still 
in  formulation  and  the  canon  still  in  process  of  formation,  it 
is  difficult  to  see  what  more  effective  answer  Irenaeus  could 
have  made  to  Gnostic  claims.  Yet  what  enormous  assump- 
tions were  wrapped  up  in  this  answer.  Does  succession  in 
office  really  guarantee  unchanging  teaching?  And,  if  the 
development  has  at  all  been  accurately  traced,  were  the 
monarchical  bishops  of  the  churches  of  Irenaeus's  day  really 

33 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

instituted  by  the  apostles,  appointed  as  their  successors  and 
intrusted  with  the  apostolic  government?  Irenaeus's  answer 
shows,  however,  that  the  second-century  conception  of  the 
organization  of  the  church  had  developed  in  the  form  which 
was  to  characterize  the  greater  part  of  the  church  to  the 
present  day.  Not  that  there  was  anything  static  here.  The 
minor  orders,  the  metropolitans  and  the  popes  were  yet  in  the 
future;  but  the  story  has  been  followed  far  enough  for  the 
purposes  of  the  present  study. 

Certain  conclusions  emerge  from  this  examination  of 
Christian  institutional  development  which  have  their  bear- 
ings on  the  problem  of  church  unity.  No  period  in  this 
changing  situation  can  be  pointed  out  as  a  model  of  what 
Christian  institutions  should  be.  There  was  here  no  decline 
from  a  primal  purity.  There  was  a  growth,  an  adaptation  to 
environment  and  new  conditions.  The  primitive  charismatic 
democracy  had  to  yield  to  the  discrediting  of  prophecy,  and 
the  claims  of  order  and  effective  organization.  The  unwork- 
able nature  of  the  collegiate  presbyter-bishops,  especially 
under  the  needs  of  the  conduct  of  worship  and  in  the  face 
of  rising  heresy,  had  to  give  way  to  monarchical  episcopacy. 
That  in  turn  was  compelled  in  the  great  Gnostic  crisis  of  the 
second  century  to  emphasize  its  guardianship  of  historic 
Christianity.  Many  of  its  emphases  were  undoubtedly  with- 
out full  historic  justification;  but  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  anything  less  rigid  or  less  solidly  built  would  have 
carried  the  church  through  its  struggles  with  the  heathen 
forces  of  the  Empire  without  and  its  own  divisions,  heresies 
and  ferment  within. 

If,  moreover,  there  is  in  this  development  no  place  where 
one  can  say  that  Christian  institutions  had  received  a  final 
form,  may  not  the  same  be  true  of  the  whole  history  of  the 
church?  Is  not  its  institutional  life  one  of  adaptation  to 
environment — an  environment  that  changes  from  age  to 
age.  Much  that  the  past  has  brought  forth  is  of  exceeding 
worth.    It  is  not  lightly  to  be  rejected.    But  the  vital  thing 

34 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

in  any  epoch  is  that  divine  life  which  forever  seeks  expres- 
sion through  the  church  and  should  forever  clothe  itself  in 
forms  fitted  to  the  needs  of  the  particular  present  age  in 
which  the  church  militant  bears  its  testimony  and  does  its 
work. 


35 


II 

VITAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH 
DEVELOPMENT 

^T  a  meeting  of  a  number  of  university  men,  who 

/  \  were  discussing  church  unity,  one  of  them  said  that 
X  j^the  tenets  held  among  the  different  churches  are 
logically  so  incompatible  that  they  never  can  be  reconciled. 
An  eminent  biologist  who  was  present  took  up  the  discus- 
sion and  held  that  biologically  these  differences  were  capa- 
ble of  assimilation.  Life  is  a  good  digester  of  incompatibles. 
From  a  biological  point  of  view  the  problem  of  the  organic 
unity  of  the  churches  is  no  more  to  be  regarded  as  impossible 
than  has  been  the  organization  of  the  higher  forms  of  life 
through  the  processes  of  natural  selection. 

The  naturalist  is  accustomed  to  inquire  how  all  things 
from  their  beginnings  have  grown  to  be  what  they  have 
become.  He  would  regard  as  vain  disputations  ecclesiasti- 
cal controversies  or  dogmatic  conclusions  which  show  the 
absence  of  any  vital  conception  of  religious  development. 
Far  too  little  use  of  the  biologist's  way  of  thinking  has  been 
made  in  religious  literature;  and  especially  the  lack  of  this 
mental  habit  is  to  be  deplored  in  controversial  discussions  of 
the  polities  and  doctrines  of  the  different  churches.  Too 
generally  either  no  idea  whatsoever  of  natural  development 
has  entered  into  the  minds  of  the  disputants,  or,  if  some  idea 
of  the  development  of  the  Church  and  its  institutions  has 
been  entertained,  it  has  been  a  logical  rather  than  a  vital 
conception  of  the  historical  development  of  Christianity. 

Some  of  the  generation  now  passing  received  in  their 

36 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

earlier  ministry  fresh  inspiration  and  guidance  into  pastures 
new  from  the  writings  of  that  early  prophet  of  social  salva- 
tion and  larger  Christian  comprehension,  Frederick  Denison 
Maurice.  Somewhere  in  his  writings  he  used  this  significant 
phrase,  "great  reconciling  principles."  Biological  analogies 
may  reveal  to  us  vital  reconciling  principles  in  the  realm  of 
spiritual  life  and  growth. 

One  should  beware  indeed  of  transferring  directly  the  laws 
of  one  order  of  being  to  another;  as,  for  example,  of  identi- 
fying the  laws  of  mechanics  with  the  modes  of  reaction  in 
the  psychological  order,  and  still  more  in  the  realm  of  spir- 
itual activities.  This  was  the  mistake  of  the  otherwise  stimu- 
lating and  clarifying  book  of  Henry  Drummond  on  "Nat- 
ural Law  in  the  Spiritual  World."  The  analogy  between  the 
two,  when  carried  to  the  point  of  their  identification,  results 
in  subjection  of  the  higher  order  to  the  lower,  to  the  con- 
fusion of  both.  But  an  illuminating  analogy  may  be  dis- 
cerned between  certain  formative  principles  in  different 
spheres  of  creative  action.  Such  principles,  which  may  be 
recognized  as  characteristic  modes  of  behavior  in  one  period 
or  domain  of  natural  history,  serve  to  bring  out  more  clearly 
the  higher  laws  or  modes  of  procedure  in  the  development 
of  personal  life  and  human  society. 

The  end  of  the  war  opens  before  all  the  churches  the  pos- 
sibility of  one  of  the  greater  works  of  faith  which  the  Lord 
promised  His  disciples  they  should  do  in  His  Name.  Organ- 
ized Christianity  is  to  be  reorganized.  Modern  historical 
studies  have  furnished  much  valuable  material  for  Church 
reconstruction.  Christianity  may  not  survive  on  polemical 
divinity.  The  religious  world  waits  for  the  reconciliation  of 
all  Christians.  Our  churches  generally  are  ready  to  move 
forward  and  to  move  together  for  the  common  cause  of 
Christianity. 

It  is  the  aim,  accordingly,  of  this  essay  to  inquire  whether 
in  the  light  of  modern  biological  knowledge  we  may  come 
to  some  better  understanding  of  vital  principles  of  the  or- 

37 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

ganic  unity  and  development  of  the  Church.  For  our  plans 
of  reunion,  if  they  are  to  prove  fruitful,  must  proceed  from 
true  principles  of  life  and  growth. 

We  must  start,  then,  in  such  inquiry  from  the  present 
accepted  view  of  the  method  of  natural  evolution.  The 
view  formerly  accepted  is  designated  by  the  word  preforma- 
tion. The  chick  was  supposed  to  exist  in  an  invisible  minia- 
ture in  the  egg.  Evolution,  as  the  word  was  then  used,  was 
supposed  to  be  the  unfolding  of  what  was  involved  in  the 
embryo.  This  was,  broadly  speaking,  the  theory  which  was 
prevalent  among  naturalists  in  the  seventeenth  and  earlier 
part  of  the  eighteenth  centuries.  In  the  year  1759  a  young 
physician  published  as  a  thesis  for  a  doctor's  degree  an 
attack  upon  the  then  current  theory  of  preformation  (Wolff, 
"Theoria  Generationis").  He  endeavored  to  show  that  the 
organism  does  not  exist  already  formed  in  the  egg,  but  that 
on  the  contrary  all  development  proceeds  through  a  process 
of  new  formation — the  germ  exists  to  be  developed  in  its 
relation  to  its  environment.  But  this  conception,  as  so  often 
happens  with  new  ideas,  was  not  favorably  received  by  the 
orthodox  science  of  his  day,  and  for  a  long  time  was  neg- 
lected. Since  Darwin  it  has  become  in  modified  forms  the 
accepted  teaching  of  biological  science.  The  word  evolution 
is  no  longer  used  in  its  former  and  literal  sense  as  simply  the 
bringing  out  of  what  was  previously  formed  in  organic  be- 
ginnings^— the  rudimentary  structure  corresponding,  part 
by  part,  with  what  was  completed  in  the  adult  form.  Mod- 
ern biology  has  to  account  for  the  life  and  growth  of  an 
organism  in  adaptation  to  its  environment.  The  environ- 
ment is  a  factor  in  the  formation.  Moreover,  we  know  more 
concerning  the  beginnings  of  different  organs  of  the  body. 
Recent  experiments,  it  is  true,  seem  to  show  that  in  some 
species  at  least  there  are  certain  limited  areas  of  the  em- 
bryo from  which  definite  structural  developments  may  pro- 
ceed. But,  with  some  possible  modifications,  the  evolution 
of  organic  forms  and  functions  may  be  described  by  the 

38 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

word  predetermination  rather  than  by  the  word  preforma- 
tion. How  the  primary  differentiation  of  the  germ-plasm 
is  effected,  or  what  determinants  may  be  detected  or  sup- 
posed to  exist  in  the  cell, — all  this  constitutes  the  problem 
at  the  root  of  modern  theories  of  heredity.  Without  going, 
however,  into  particulars,  it  is  sufficient  for  our  immediate 
analogical  purpose  to  note  that  evolution  (epigenesis)  is  to 
be  conceived  as  a  progressive  development,  in  which  organs 
are  formed  and  additional  functions  are  acquired  in  a  process 
of  continuous  action  and  reaction  between  the  organism  and 
its  environment,  and  in  which  new  varieties  may  appear  and 
specific  forms  become  determined. 

Keeping,  then,  in  mind  such  general  principles  of  organic 
evolutiony  we  proceed  to  inquire  whether  certain  analogous 
principles  are  to  be  discerned  in  the  development  of  organ- 
ized Christianity.  What  may  be  regarded  as  vitally  essen- 
tial principles  in  the  continuity  and  growth  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  in  the  world?  We  would  seek  for  such  principles 
in  the  formation  and  continuity  of  its  order,  its  faith,  and 
its  worship.  We  would  not  miss  any  signs  of  their  working 
in  the  varieties  of  Christian  life  and  associations.  We  must 
recognize  in  these  the  possibility  of  degenerate  forms,  which 
lose  survival  virtue,  and  also  of  abnormal  growths  which  may 
be  capable  of  reabsorption  in  the  further  organic  growth. 
But  the  vitalizing  energies,  the  formative  and  adaptive  prin- 
ciples of  the  living  Church,  are  the  main  things  to  be  known. 
Nor  will  inquiries  concerning  these  be  matter  merely  of 
ecclesiastical  or  doctrinal  concern;  primarily  and  now-a- 
days  most  urgently  they  are  practical  issues;  for  our  plans 
for  the  reunion  of  the  churches  and  our  endeavors  for  the 
utmost  efficiency  of  the  Church  will  succeed  or  fail;  they 
shall  usher  in  another  age  in  fulfilment  of  former  ages  of 
the  Reformation,  or  they  shall  be  brought  to  naught ;  as  they 
find  and  follow,  or  shall  miss  and  wander  from  the  way  of 
the  Spirit,  the  method  of  the  Life  of  the  Christ  in  the  life 

39 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

of  humanity.  That  is  one  of  progressive  teaching  and 
practice. 

The  absence  of  any  guiding  idea  of  development  is  notice- 
able in  much  of  the  dogmatic  divinity  of  former  days,  and 
too  often  also  in  existing  ecclesiastical  discussions.  Church 
partisans  have  been  accustomed  to  appeal  to  their  received 
views  of  the  origins  of  Christian  institutions,  to  their  tra- 
ditions, to  the  early  fathers  or  to  the  Reformers,  to  the 
decrees  of  the  undivided  Church  or  to  later  historical  con- 
fessions ;  but  with  little  or  no  regard  for  modern  critical  and 
scientific  methods  of  historical  research. 

One  may  search  in  vain  through  the  numerous  controver- 
sial writings  of  the  last  three  hundred  years,  until  quite  re- 
cently, for  evidences  of  a  truly  genetic  conception  of  the 
origins  and  development  of  the  faith  and  order  of  the 
Church.  Generally  in  the  ecclesiastical  discussions  of  former 
times  proof-texts,  taken  from  the  Scriptures,  were  the  weap- 
ons of  their  controversies,  citations  from  the  church  fathers 
their  supports;  and  political  interests  in  the  control  of  the 
Church  by  the  State  were  the  field  of  their  hostilities. 

I  have  gone  from  the  biological  laboratory  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity to  a  room  in  the  library  in  which  is  preserved  a  large 
collection  of  the  controversial  literature  of  the  Puritan 
times — books  and  pamphlets  once  burning  with  zeal  but 
now  gathered  in  peace  together  on  its  shelves.  The  change 
from  the  researches  of  the  laboratory  to  that  room  in  the 
library,  in  which  the  spirits  of  champions  and  martyred  wit- 
nesses to  their  faith  seemed  still  to  be  present,  was  like 
entering  into  another  world.  In  it  I  could  still  feel  the  spirit 
of  men  breathing  the  air  of  a  new  day  of  freedom,  who  had 
waxed  valiant  in  fight  and  followed  without  faltering  the 
light  that  went  before  them,  each  on  his  own  separate  and 
narrow  way.  In  the  other  I  was  peering  into  the  mystery 
of  the  beginnings  of  things,  searching  the  ways  in  which 
from  infinitesimal  origins  the  world  has  become  what  now  it 
appears  to  be,  wondering,  as  I  left,  what  is  the  last  secret, 

40 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

the  diviner  meaning  of  it  all.  The  language  of  those  two 
rooms  was  not  the  same.  The  ways  of  thinking  in  them 
were  not  opposed,  for  they  had  never  met.  The  whole  atmos- 
phere was  changed — that  past  world  of  undoubting  beliefs, 
this  modern  world  of  questioning  knowledge.  But  we  are 
coming  to  understand  that  there  are  not,  after  all,  two 
worlds  of  science  and  divinity,  for  the  two  are  hemispheres 
of  the  one  full  orb  of  truth. 

In  recent  times  some  idea  of  development,  more  or  less 
scientific,  has  been  received  in  historical  and  religious 
thought.  A  notable  contribution  to  it  was  made  in  New- 
man's famous  essay  on  the  "Development  of  the  Christian 
Doctrine."  It  was  begun  while  he  was  about  to  pass  from 
his  life  at  Oxford,  and  it  was  finished  just  after  he  had 
joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  One  may  well  wonder 
whether  Newman  would  ever  have  taken  that  step,  if  Oxford 
at  that  time  could  have  given  him  a  modern  course  of  study 
in  general  biology.  With  more  foresight  than  was  usual 
then,  he  had  discerned  the  signs  of  the  coming  conflict  be- 
tween modern  science  and  a  Church  that  deemed  itself 
safely  intrenched  within  its  ancient  dogmas.  He  had  early 
cherished  the  desire  to  write  a  new  apologetic  for  religion. 
More  pertinently,  perhaps,  the  question  may  be  raised 
whether  Newman  would  not  have  written  his  "Essay  on 
Development"  along  quite  different  lines,  and  have  led  the 
Oxford  movement  beyond  captivity  to  Rome  out  to  a  larger 
catholicity,  if  besides  his  familiarity  with  the  church  fathers, 
his  earlier  education  could  have  imparted  to  him  a  good 
biological  habit  of  mind  in  his  religious  thinking.  More 
truly  still,  it  may  be  said  that,  deeper  and  more  potential 
even  than  his  historical  studies  or  logical  habits,  in  the 
spiritual  psychology  of  Newman's  distinctive  personality, 
were  to  be  found  the  motives  that  predetermined  his  career; 
which  first  caused  him  to  be  hailed  as  the  morning  star  of 
a  new  dawn  for  the  Anglican  Church;  as  later  his  lack  of 
scientific  appreciation  of  the  method  of  creative  evolution 

,     4i 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

may  have  contributed  to  his  final  resolution,  which  caused 
even  the  splendor  of  his  spiritual  genius  to  be  submerged  in 
his  intellectual  submission  to  Rome. 

The  work,  which  Newman  relinquished,  of  writing  a  new 
apologetic  of  religion,  can  be  accomplished  only  out  in  the 
open  field  of  knowledge,  where  winds  from  all  quarters  blow, 
and  in  an  atmosphere  of  intellectual  freedom.  Nevertheless, 
it  was  not  the  least  of  Newman's  contributions  to  religious 
thought  that  he  brought  the  whole  case  of  Christian  dogmas 
to  the  test  of  an  idea  of  development.  A  criticism,  there- 
fore, from  a  more  scientific  point  of  view,  may  be  very  much 
to  the  purpose  in  helping  present  discussions  go  down  to  the 
vital  principles  of  Church  unity.  For,  as  we  may  clearly  dis- 
cern them,  we  may  wisely  and  hopefully  trust  the  ultimate 
results  of  our  working  with  and  through  them. 


i.     BIOLOGICAL    CRITICISM    OF    NEWMAN'S 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE 

THE  title  of  his  Essay  is,  "The  Development  of  Chris- 
tian Doctrine."  It  is  to  be  noted  that  he  did  not  pro- 
pose to  himself  the  wider  inquiry  concerning  the  development 
of  Christian  life  and  doctrine  in  the  life  of  the  world.  He 
defines  his  thesis  as  follows: 

That  the  increase  and  expansion  of  the  Christian  Creed 
and  Ritual,  and  the  variations  which  have  attended  the 
process  in  the  case  of  individual  writers  and  Churches,  are 
the  necessary  attendants  on  any  philosophy  or  polity  which 
has  taken  possession  of  the  intellect  and  heart  and  has  any 
wide  or  extended  dominion:  that,  from  the  nature  of  the 
human  mind,  time  is  necessary  for  the  full  comprehension 
and  perfection  of  great  ideas ;  and  that  the  highest  and  most 
wonderful  truths,  though  communicated  to  the  world  once 
for  all  by  inspired  teachers,  could  not  be  comprehended  all 
at  once  by  the  recipient,  but,  as  being  received  and  trans- 
mitted by  minds  not  inspired  and  through  media  which  were 

42 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

human,  have  required  only  the  longer  time  and  deeper 
thought  for  their  full  elucidation.  This  may  be  called  the 
"Theory  of  Development  of  Doctrine"  (p.  29). 

His  only  thought  is  of  the  "full  comprehension  and  per- 
fection of  great  ideas";  the  development  is  not  of  the  ideas, 
but  in  our  comprehension  and  perfection  of  them.  The 
growth  is  in  their  "elucidation."  That  is  brought  to  light 
which  lies  hidden  in  them.  Newman  starts  accordingly  with 
the  conception  of  preformed  ideas  involved  in  the  original 
content  of  the  Christian  dogma.  There  is  no  further  reve- 
lation of  the  mind  of  Christ  in  and  through  the  mind  of  his 
Church,  no  epigenesis  of  Christian  doctrine  in  the  experience 
of  his  disciples,  no  increasing  knowledge  of  God  through 
historic  processes  of  the  divine  education  of  his  children.  It 
puts  a  dogmatic  limitation  upon  the  teaching  Spirit  of  Christ 
in  history  to  conceive  of  it  as  showing  solely  the  things  of 
Christ  in  any  past  age.  There  are  things  of  Christ  coming, 
and  already  come,  in  our  own  time,  to  be  shown  by  the 
Spirit  that  shall  lead  the  disciples  into  all  truth.  Jesus' 
commission  to  his  disciples  was  not  merely  that  they  should 
make  a  bank  deposit  of  his  teaching  for  future  ages  to  draw 
the  interest  of  it;  He  was  to  be  with  them  always.  At  no 
definite  point  of  time,  in  no  determinate  form  of  belief,  may 
it  be  said  that  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Christ  came 
to  a  pause,  or  that  in  the  creeds  of  the  ancient  Church  man's 
pursuit  of  truth  has  overtaken  divine  revelation.  When  has 
the  God  of  history  ceased  to  call  individual  men  to  be 
prophets  of  his  word,  or  upon  the  mountain  tops  to  be  mes- 
sengers of  the  dawn  of  another  of  the  days  of  the  Son  of 
man  on  the  earth?  Has  the  common  life  of  His  people 
never  been  stirred  to  the  depths  by  the  Spirit  that  bloweth 
where  it  listeth?  Is  not  nature  itself  disclosing  now  long 
hidden  secrets  of  His  wisdom  and  power?  Or  is  the  old 
faith  ever  conserved  except  in  its  becoming  the  new  faith? 

Newman  proceeds  to  give  seven  notes  by  which  a  true 
development  may  be  distinguished  from  corruptions.     A 

43 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

cursory  review  of  these  notes  may  be  a  useful  preliminary  to 
the  present  inquiry  concerning  the  really  vital  principles  of 
Church  development. 

The  first  note  is  Preservation  of  the  Type.  This  is  a 
true  biological  principle;  nature  remains  true  to  the  type. 
The  determinants  in  each  specific  form  also  remain  con- 
stant. But  Newman's  applications  of  this  note  to  the  his- 
toric development  of  the  Church  betray  no  conception  of 
what  the  biologists  call  phylogenesis,  the  larger  evolution  of 
successive  types  and  species  through  the  capacity  of  life  for 
variation  and  by  means  of  many  factors,  known  and  as  yet 
unknown,  as  a  result  of  which  the  rich  manifoldness  of  exist- 
ing forms  of  life  has  been  attained  in  the  unity  of  the  organic 
world.  Hence  Newman's  first  note  in  its  application  to 
Christian  doctrine  is  true  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  does  not 
go  far  enough.  It  ignores  the  whole  field  of  comparative 
religion.  How  Christianity  grew  up  among  the  religions  of 
the  world,  and  in  its  historical  environment  from  age  to 
age  has  become  what  it  is  in  its  present  varieties  of  reli- 
gious experience  and  faith, — all  this  broader  survey  and 
comparative  evaluation  of  different  forms  of  existing  Chris- 
tian life  and  teaching  does  not  enter  into  his  discussion  of 
the  development  of  doctrine.  His  illustrations  under  this 
note  are  taken  from  differences  in  individual  cases  and  trace 
the  genealogy  of  a  particular  line  of  descent.  By  this  note 
the  discussion  enters  indeed  a  right  way,  but  no  sooner  is 
it  entered  than  its  direction  is  lost.  It  is  noticeable  that 
like  so  many  others  in  current  religious  discussions,  Newman 
takes  examples  from  the  growth  of  animal  or  vegetable 
nature  only  "as  illustrations  of  the  general  subject"  (p.  41) ; 
but  illustrations  are  not  analogies;  or,  as  the  biologists 
would  say,  homologies  are  not  analogies.  God's  ways  of 
self-realization  or  manifestation  through  the  natural  and  the 
spiritual  realms  are  not  merely  illustrative,  they  are  parallel 
and  harmonious  ways  of  the  one  divine  order  of  the  whole 
creation.    We  need  to  go  deeper  than  the  illustration  on  the 

44 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

surface  of  things  to  find  the  fundamental  principles,  the 
great  laws  of  being  and  life,  upon  which,  as  on  the  everlast- 
ing rock,  we  may  build  our  immortal  loves  and  hopes. 

The  second  note  is  Continuity  of  Principles.  Newman 
reaches  broader  ground  in  this  part  of  his  essay.  The  con- 
tinuity of  natural  evolution  is  an  accepted  postulate  of  mod- 
ern science.  Some  of  Newman's  words  concerning  the  rela- 
tions of  principles  and  dogmas  may  be  analogous  to  the 
relations  which  biologists  might  draw  between  the  laws  and 
the  forms  of  natural  evolution.  But  here  again  he  follows  his 
misleading  idea  of  the  development  of  Christian  faiths  from 
some  preformed  deposit  of  original  dogma;  for  he  draws  his 
illustrations  of  this  note  from  the  relations  of  Euclid's  defini- 
tions to  the  axioms  and  postulates  of  mathematics  (p.  179).* 

The  third  note  is  the  Power  of  Assimilation.  We  need  to 
call  attention  to  this  note  only  because  in  Newman's  use 
of  it  he  had  an  advantage  at  least  over  those  leaders  of  the 
Oxford  movement  whom  he  left  behind  him  when  he  went 
over  to  Rome.  For  one  reason  of  the  continued  survival  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  while  empires  have  fallen  and 
knowledge  has  increased,  has  been  just  this  power  of  receiv- 
ing and  assimilating  elements  of  vitality  from  its  changing 
environment — the  paradox  of  its  power  of  changing  that  it 
may  continue  unchanged.  Because  it  possesses  a  living 
authority,  which  it  deems  infallible,  the  Roman  Church  exer- 
cises a  power  of  binding  or  loosing,  of  granting  dispensations 
from  its  own  restrictions,  and  rendering  new  definitions  of 
its  own  doctrines.  So  Newman  has  said:  "The  Church  of 
Rome  can  consult  expediency  more  freely  than  other  bodies, 
as  trusting  to  her  living  tradition,  and  is  sometimes  thought 

*  See  later  statement  of  Newman's  position  in  reply  to  Peronne 
and  virtual  agreement  with  him  that  "the  whole  depositum,"  as,  for 
instance,  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  might  be 
regarded  as  making  explicit  what  is  implicit  in  the  creed.  (Life  of 
Newman,  by  Wilfred  Ward,  Vol.  1,  184  sq.) 

45 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

to  disregard  principle  and  scruple  when  she  is  but  dispensing 
with  forms."  But  the  extreme  adherents  of  the  Oxford 
movement  have  not  this  freedom  of  a  living  authority;  they 
are  bound  within  the  limits  of  their  own  claim  of  being 
Catholic;  the  fathers  are  always  with  them,  and  their  final 
appeal  is  to  the  decrees  of  the  ancient  Councils.  Newman 
submitted  to  a  living  Infallibility;  the  Tractarians  remained 
under  the  rule  of  the  dead  man's  hand. 

For  our  present  purpose  it  is  not  necessary  to  follow 
Newman  through  his  remaining  notes  and  their  application 
to  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church.  His  Essay  rendered 
this  service,  that  it  brought  the  idea  of  development  of  some 
kind  to  the  forefront  in  the  discussion  of  ecclesiastical  issues. 
The  conclusion  also  to  which  he  came  as  he  passed  over  to 
Rome,  may  lead  one  to  beware  of  any  idea  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Church  which  does  not  stand  the  test  of  biologi- 
cal analogies.  We  may  be  forewarned,  for  example,  against 
theories  of  the  continuity  of  the  Church,  such  as  led  New- 
man, with  perhaps  logical  consistency  but  vital  misunder- 
standing, to  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  "a  developing 
authority  is  to  be  expected.  ...  a  provision  in  the  Dispen- 
sation of  putting  a  seal  of  authority  on  the  Development." 
On  the  contrary  the  "developing  authority,"  the  principle 
of  development,  is  from  within,  not  from  without;  and  the 
seal  of  it  is  the  vital  certainty  that  it  survives  and  continues 
to  grow. 

Newman  himself  had  a  deeper  insight,  he  struck  a  truer 
note,  when  late  in  life,  in  1872,  he  wrote  to  the  principal  of 
Aberdeen  University:  "What  a  mystery  it  is  in  this  day 
that  there  should  be  so  much  which  draws  religious  minds 
together,  and  so  much  that  separates  them  from  each 
other.  .  .  .  and  when  shall  the  better  day  come?  ...  It 
seems  to  me  the  first  step  to  any  chance  of  unity  amid  our 
divisions  is  for  religious  minds,  one  and  all,  to  live  upon  the 
Gospels"  (Ward,  op.  cit.,  v.,  ii.,  p.  393). 

46 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

2.    ANALOGIES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 
FROM  BIOLOGY 

PASSING  from  these  more  general  statements  concern- 
ing vital  principles  of  development,  we  may  turn  to 
some  special  biological  analogies  which  may  throw  light 
upon  the  problems  of  organic  Church  unity  which  are  now 
pressing  themselves  upon  all  our  churches. 

Without  entering  into  technical  details  or  minor  distinc- 
tions which  biologists  might  make,  the  following  tendencies 
may  be  said  to  be  recognizable  in  the  evolution  of  organic 
forms  and  functions ;  and  similar  principles  are  to  be  recog- 
nized in  the  development  of  the  Church. 

i.  There  is  a  certain  conservative  tendency,  or  prin- 
ciple of  conservation,  in  the  organism  as  a  whole. 

This  seems  to  be  inherent  in  the  germ-plasm  of  the 
organic  unit.  It  is  observable  not  only  in  its  reactions 
against  incompatible  elements  or  hurtful  influences  from 
without,  but  also  in  its  development  as  a  check  or  balance, 
whenever  variation,  if  carried  too  far  in  some  direction, 
might  threaten  the  existence  of  the  species.  It  is  some- 
times spoken  of  as  variation  around  a  mean. 

This  principle  of  self-conservation  as  an  organic  whole 
was  a  vital  principle  in  the  growth  of  the  early  Church.  It 
began  to  be  as  one  body.  It  was  not  an  association  bound 
together  by  an  external  interest,  or  merely  for  co-operative 
work,  it  was  a  fellowship  in  one  and  the  same  Life. 

The  Christian  Church  was  wholly  there,  and  Jesus  Him- 
self was  present  in  it,  when  He  gave  to  the  company  of  His 
disciples  the  Last  Supper.  The  Church  as  one  whole  was 
in  that  upper  room — the  membership,  its  offices,  its  powers, 
its  great  commission,  all  its  organic  powers  in  the  society 
of  those  disciples  with  Jesus.  The  chosen  body  of  His  dis- 
ciples were  themselves  both  members  and  Apostles  of  His 
Church.  As  such  He  gave  to  them  authority.  No  one  of 
that  first  communion  of  disciples  was  to  be  greatest  among 

47 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

them.  To  the  Church  thus  constituted  and  to  those  who 
were  gathered  with  the  disciples,  the  Lord  appeared  and 
gave  visible  signs  and  assurance  of  His  presence  always  with 
them.  In  that  first  communion  of  Christ,  the  organs  and 
manifold  gifts  and  functions  of  the  Church  that  was  to  take 
form  and  grow,  were  undeveloped,  not  definitely  separated, 
but  potentially  existing.  Not  many  days  after,  we  read,  they 
went  up  into  the  upper  chamber,  where  they  were  abiding, 
and  these  all  with  one  accord  continued  stedfastly  in  prayer, 
with  the  women  and  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  with  His 
brethren.  Soon  those  fellow-servants  of  whom  the  Church 
was  first  constituted  without  distinction  of  presbyters,  bish- 
ops, or  deacons,  but  with  all  power  and  authority,  were 
called  to  go  their  separate  ways,  never  probably  to  meet 
all  together  in  the  same  room  again.  In  many  different 
places  each  disciple  was  to  gather  around  him  believers,  and 
each  communion  so  formed  presented  in  that  particular 
place  the  whole  Apostolic  Church.  From  so  simple  poten- 
tiality the  age-long  development  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
began. 

Each  primitive  church  had  to  be  locally  adapted  to  its 
immediate  surroundings  in  order  that  it  might  survive  and 
grow.  But  the  churches  in  every  place  had  a  common  tra- 
dition and  a  common  consciousness  of  belonging  to  the  same 
Christian  society,  while  in  distant  places  and  at  different 
times  they  had  various  usages.  They  were  vitalized  by 
the  same  Spirit,  but  possessed  divers  gifts  and  spake  in 
many  tongues.  The  conserving  influence,  as  they  began  to 
multiply  among  all  the  saints  of  the  dispersion  was  the 
common  consciousness  of  the  one  people  of  God.  Every 
communion  of  Christians  was  one  of  the  fellowship  of  all 
Christians.  Such  at  least  in  the  simplicity  of  its  earliest 
growth  was  the  Apostolic  Church.  "All  things  are  yours," 
so  the  great  Apostle  of  reconciliation  could  preach  to  those 
first  Christian  communities.  So  might  the  Apostolic  recog- 
nition of  unity  amid  diversity  be  given  to  the  churches  in 

48 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

every  place  today,  if  St.  Paul  were  travelling,  not  from 
Jerusalem  to  Macedonia  or  to  Rome  only,  but  among  our 
churches  of  every  name  the  whole  world  round.  For  what 
has  been  lost  among  us  is  not  the  indwelling  life,  which  is 
the  perpetual  presence  of  the  Christ  with  His  disciples,  but 
our  common  and  compelling  consciousness  of  it,  and  hence 
our  failures  to  make  it  visible  to  the  world.  The  real  denial 
of  catholicity  is  for  any  part  of  the  church  to  claim  itself 
to  be  the  whole  Church.  What  is  not  conservative,  but  de- 
structive of  unity  is  for  any  existing  church  to  assert  its 
order  or  rule  to  be  the  only  form  and  authority  for  the  mani- 
fold diversities  of  faith  and  order  which  the  centuries  have 
developed.  Nor  is  catholicity  to  be  sought  and  found  in  a 
vain  endeavor  to  put  existing  non-conformity  back  into  some 
previously  existing  uniformity.  If  we  could  imagine  the 
churches  in  all  their  manifoldness  to  be  put  back  as  one 
body  into  the  undivided  Church  of  the  first  five  centuries, 
that  would  not  make  one  Catholic  Church;  for  it  would 
leave  outside  the  manifold  and  rich  fruits  of  the  life  of  the 
Church  in  all  the  seasons  since.  To  compel  us  to  return 
into  the  earlier  forms  would  be  schismatic  toward  the  later 
manifoldness. 

Moreover,  it  should  be  observed  in  passing  that  it  is  not 
strictly  true  to  speak  of  churches  that  may  have  sprung  up 
spontaneously  from  the  common  ground  as  though  they 
were  merely  voluntary  associations.  Birds  of  the  air  may 
have  scattered  seeds  of  the  truth,  which  the  providence  of 
God  may  have  watered,  and  by  their  fruits  they  are  to  be 
judged.  They  have  grown  on  the  common  inheritance;  they 
are  constituted  of  the  same  elementary  units;  they  bear 
the  marks  of  their  Christian  descent,  and  in  their  member- 
ship are  believers  baptized  with  the  same  baptism  of  all  the 
children  of  the  universal  Church.  In  their  will  to  be,  there 
may  be  something  of  the  will  of  God  that  needs  to  be  done. 
Moreover,  if  they  give  increasing  evidence  of  their  survival- 
value,  there  must  be  in  them  some  virtue  fit  to  live,  to  be 

49 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

taken  up  into  and  conserved  in  the  growth  and  fruitions  of 
the  whole  Church. 

At  this  point,  however,  the  question  may  be  well  urged 
whether  there  is  no  principle  in  accordance  with  which  hurt- 
ful outgrowths  may  be  cut  off,  or  superfluous  multiplications 
plucked  up?  Rome  claims  a  self-perpetuating  authority  to 
do  this;  has  Protestantism  no  vital  principles  of  self-judg- 
ment?   We  turn  for  an  answer  to  further  biological  analogies. 

2.  The  second  vital  principle  to  be  noticed  in  this  con- 
nection is  the  restorative  tendency  of  organic  life. 

This  capacity  of  self-repairing,  and  restoration  of  lost 
parts,  seems  to  be  a  general  property  of  the  lower  organisms. 
It  diminishes  as  the  organization  becomes  more  highly  dif- 
ferentiated, but  within  limits  it  may  be  said  to  be  one  of 
the  general  properties  of  organized  matter.  Life  is  naturally 
selective  of  its  own  forms  best  fitted  to  survive.  Abnormal 
forms  are  not  usually  self-perpetuating.  Superfluous  appen- 
dices in  time  become  aborted.  There  seems  to  be  a  natural 
tendency  to  restore  the  vital  proportions  between  the  several 
parts  and  functions  which  are  to  be  kept  balanced  and  co- 
operative for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  organism.  This 
method  of  divine  grace  in  the  spiritual  realm  is  no  less 
effective  than  the  law  of  selection  in  nature.  We  may  trust 
providence  through  human  history  to  work  as  a  balancing 
and  normative  energy,  keeping  the  proportions  of  faith. 
We  may  greatly  err  if  we  undertake  too  hastily  or  violently 
to  do  this  work  in  the  Church  ourselves.  Nature  might 
teach  us  a  lesson  of  tolerance  for  a  while  even  with  freaks. 
Christian  associations  have  sometimes  sprung  up  overnight 
as  the  following  of  some  eccentric  preacher,  flourished  for 
their  brief  day,  and  been  forgotten,  whatever  measure  of 
truth  there  may  have  been  in  their  strange  doctrine  being 
reabsorbed  in  the  growth  of  the  Church.  Heresies  have 
often  been  taken  up  after  a  while  into  the  larger  and  richer 
orthodoxy.  How  often  it  would  have  been  better  to  trust 
the  healing  virtue  of  the  Spirit  than  the  drastic  remedies  of 

50 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

the  ecclesiastics.  A  wise  conservatism  may  find  it  safe  to 
trust  what  one  of  old  called  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Education. 

3.  Besides  this,  there  is  observable  in  the  organic  world 
a  certain  substitutional  capacity. 

When  one  organ  or  part  has  been  injured  or  lost,  its  work 
may  be  taken  up  by  some  other  part  of  the  organism.  Or  a 
new  part  may  be  grown  in  its  place.  There  are  instances  in 
which  from  a  different  area  of  an  embryo  a  new  growth  has 
been  formed  to  take  the  place  of  one  that  had  been  de- 
stroyed.* 

Now  this  same  natural  principle  of  substitutional  function- 
ing is  inherent  in  the  plastic  nature,  so  to  speak,  of  the 
living  Church.  It  has  special  significance  in  relation  to  the 
offices  and  orders  of  the  Church.  Such  orders,  whether 
they  be  few  or  many  in  their  later  differentiations,  have 
their  origin  in  the  original  undivided  and  essential  nature 
of  the  Christian  society  itself.  Hence  they  have  correlative, 
and  if  need  be,  substitutional  power  of  functioning  for  the 
well-being  of  the  Church  as  one  organic  whole.  To  regard 
them  as  not  so  constituted  would  be  to  make  God  the  author 
of  confusion,  abandoning  in  the  spiritual  order  the  method 
which  has  been  pursued  in  the  order  of  nature,  and  its  per- 
fecting. The  history  of  the  Christian  Church  shows  that 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  does  not  work  in  the  realm  of  grace 
at  cross-purposes  with  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  natural  crea- 
tion. But  it  would  be  too  great  a  digression  for  us  to  follow 
out  the  evidences  of  this  statement.  It  may  be  observed 
in  passing  that  in  the  earlier  Apostolic  Church  the  divers 
gifts  of  the  Spirit  were  not  at  once  clearly  differentiated.  In 
the  sub-apostolic  days  the  functions  and  orders  of  the  min- 
istry are  not  so  distinctly  marked  that  historians  may  not 
differ  widely  in  their  definition.     Only  gradually  did  the 

*A  striking  example  is  the  growth  from  an  adjacent  epithelial 
cell  of  a  new  lens  in  place  of  one  that  had  been  destroyed  in  the 
eye  of  the  larva  of  a  Titon.  Many  interesting  experiments  of  this 
kind  have  been  made  by  biologists. 

51 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

offices  and  duties  of  presbyters  and  bishops  become  de- 
limitated and  canonically  determined.  To  some  extent  they 
have  remained  interchangeable,  as,  for  example,  it  was  held 
by  many  divines  of  the  English  Church  after  the  Reforma- 
tion that  where  bishops  could  not  be  had,  orders  conferred 
by  presbyters  might  be  deemed  to  be  valid. 

It  may  be  said  that  this  gradual  delimitation  of  orders 
and  offices,  marking  a  more  complex  organization  of  the 
Church,  is  a  gain  compensating  the  loss  of  simpler  primitive 
Christianity.  However  that  may  be,  the  original  virtue  of 
developing  and  adapting  its  own  orders  remains,  as  it  was 
at  first,  in  the  Christian  society  itself.  It  resides  in  what 
might  be  called  the  elementary  plasm,  the  essential  matter 
and  the  formative  energy  of  the  Christian  society.  From 
this  primal  and  indestructible  essence  and  virtue  of  the  body 
of  the  Church  the  injury  or  loss  of  one  order  may  be  sup- 
plied by  the  substitutional  service  of  another;  and  still  more 
than  this,  should  persecution  or  sudden  destruction  overtake 
it,  stripping  it  bare  of  all  its  official  orders,  and  leaving 
nothing  but  the  undifferentiated  company  of  believers,  from 
the  Christian  body  itself  there  might  be  developed  anew 
whatever  orders  or  ministries  might  be  necessary  that  it  may 
survive  and  fulfil  its  calling  in  the  world. 

4.  Resembling  the  character  just  noticed,  but  distin- 
guishable from  it,  is  what  has  been  called  anticipatory  sub- 
stitution. 

There  are  observed  instances  where  a  temporary  use  is 
made  of  one  organ  until  another,  better  fitted  for  the  ser- 
vice needed,  shall  have  been  formed.  Concerning  this 
anticipatory  provision,  Professor  J.  A.  Thompson  remarks: 
"Of  course,  we  require  to  know  more  about  the  way  in  which 
the  old-fashioned  structure  prepares  the  way  for  and  stimu- 
lates the  growth  of  the  future  substitute,  but  the  general 
idea  of  one  organ  leading  on  to  another  is  suggestive"  ("Sci- 
ence of  Life,"  p.  137).    This  natural  character  of  organic 

52 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

evolution  has  special  pertinency  in  the  discussion  of  the 
offices  and  orders  of  the  Church. 

A  gift  or  office  may  be  utilized  beyond  its  original  intent, 
and  thereby  become  the  means  of  transition  to  a  more  spe- 
cific authority.  Pastors  have  become  missionary  superin- 
tendents, presbyters  have  been  made  bishops,  and  the 
bishop  of  a  single  communion  has  had  in  time  a  diocese 
added  unto  him.  All  this,  both  in  the  early  church  and 
later,  is  quite  natural.  It  is  going  on  in  some  denominations 
before  our  eyes.  In  gifts  of  ministries  which  have  proved 
their  value,  and  in  orders  which  perhaps  have  been  too 
exclusively  held  by  others,  anticipations  may  possibly  be 
found  of  powers  and  administrations  that  may  be  effectively 
combined  and  adapted  in  a  corporate  working-plan  of  the 
churches.  But  such  corporate  federation  might  prove  im- 
possible if  any  church  should  hold  its  own  ecclesiastical 
polity  as  though  it  were  a  bequest  to  be  administered  under 
unalterable  terms,  which  no  living  authority  may  change;  if 
the  Church  of  the  living  God  has  been  bound  forever  to  the 
dead  past's  hand,  and  is  no  longer  as  it  was  in  the  beginning 
when  the  Spirit  of  Life  was  first  breathed  into  it,  and  the 
words  of  its  Lord  were  the  charter  of  its  liberty. 

The  Lambeth  article  seems  to  anticipate  some  such  freer 
use  of  the  historic  episcopate  as  "locally  adapted  in  the 
methods  of  its  administration  to  the  varying  needs  of  the 
nations  and  the  peoples  called  of  God  into  the  Unity  of  His 
Church." 

5.  A  fifth  note  of  creative  evolution  is  that  change  of 
direction  is  the  advancement  of  life. 

When  one  form  of  organization  has  been  carried  as  far 
as  it  can  go,  nature,  seizing  on  some  possible  variation, 
enters  on  a  better  way  of  life.  Nature  has  often  changed 
her  models;  one  type  has  followed  another,  as  when  brute 
force  would  dominate  the  earth,  nature  invented  the  first 
flying  machines,  and  gave  to  the  singing  birds  the  freedom 
of  the  sky.    If  we  were  to  attribute  intelligence  to  nature, 

S3 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

this  irrepressible  impulse  to  find  new  ways  for  life  when 
old  ways  were  ended,  might  be  called  the  optimism  of 
nature.* 

A  similar  capacity — a  spiritually  inventive  character — 
should  not  fail  in  the  Church.  A  new  age  demands  new 
ways.  The  word  reconstruction  is  hardly  adequate  to  answer 
the  call  now  of  the  world  upon  the  Church.  New  types 
fitted  to  the  demands  of  Christianity  for  all  peoples  are  to 
be  developed.  First,  perhaps,  on  what  we  used  to  call  for- 
eign missionary  fields  other  types  of  organized  Christianity 
may  spring  up.  Shall  our  home  churches  be  ready  to  recog- 
nize their  validity?  Shall  the  Protestant  churches  have 
attained  sufficient  inter-communion  among  themselves  to 
fit  them  for  Christian  inter-communion  on  foreign  fields? 


3.  VITAL  VALUES  OF  VARIOUS  SYMBOLS  OF 
FAITH  AND  WORSHIP 

WE  come  back  now  to  the  remark  of  the  biologist  with 
which  this  essay  began,  that  doctrines  logically  in- 
compatible may  be  reconciled  in  life.  Various  creeds  served 
on  the  theologian's  table  may  be  assimilated  in  the  growth  of 
a  healthy  Christian  character.  Indeed,  a  vigorous  Christian 
man  may  convert  into  his  living  and  working  faith,  without 
conscious  inward  disturbance,  doctrines  that  might  prove 
incompatible  in  any  system  of  theology.  But  the  vital 
values  of  his  beliefs  according  to  his  daily  needs  are  the 
things  that  really  matter  to  him. 

One  may  well  put  for  himself  the  creeds  of  Christendom 
to  this  unusual  but  profitable  test;  let  him  take  up,  for  exam- 
ple, Schaff's  volumes  which  contain  the  "Creeds  of  Christen- 
dom," and   turning  the  pages,  glance  through  them  one 

♦For  a  detailed  explanation  of  biological  principles  mentioned 
above,  and  instances  illustrating  them,  the  reader  may  be  referred 
to  my  book  on  "Through  Science  to  Faith,"  ch.  x. 

54 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

after  another  with  an  eye  single  to  this  only:  How  much 
may  I  find  in  each  with  which  I  can  agree?  How  much 
running  through  them  all  is  there  to  which  my  religious 
experience  responds?  Martin  Luther  once  said,  "Some- 
times I  believe,  sometimes  I  do  not  believe."  How  much  in 
these  creeds  do  I  find  in  which  at  different  times  I  may  feel 
that  I  can  believe?  Forgetting  who  made  them,  or  from 
what  age  they  may  have  come,  how  much  in  this  harvest 
from  all  fields  may  I  find  to  be  good  for  me? 

One  reading  thus  the  creeds  of  the  ages  past  may  be  able 
to  say  as  he  closes  the  books:  This  is  the  line  of  my  spirit- 
ual descent,  these  are  my  heritage  of  faith.  There  they  are, 
all  bound  together  in  these  volumes;  in  their  agreements 
and  their  contradictions,  by  their  partial  truths  and  their 
passing  errors  witnessing  to  man's  increasing  yet  ever  un- 
finished knowledge  of  God's  truth  which  passeth  knowledge. 
One  may  subscribe  to  them,  as  he  would  to  the  Bible,  as  a 
whole;  not  that  every  book  in  it  is  inerrant,  or  without 
mistake  in  every  verse,  but  as  the  revelation  of  God  through 
the  history  of  the  chosen  people,  and  its  fulfilment  in  the 
Word  made  flesh  and  of  all  that  Jesus  began  both  to  do  and 
to  teach. 

The  creeds  of  the  first  five  centuries  do  not  compass  the 
extent  of  the  faith  of  the  Church.  The  Catholic  faith  is 
the  faith  of  all  the  ages  until  now.  It  is  born,  and  born 
anew  from  the  continuous  religious  life  of  the  people  of 
God.  The  experienced  truth  of  the  whole  Church  from  the 
beginning  is  the  Catholic  faith. 

Keeping  such  conception  of  the  catholicity  of  faith  in 
mind,  we  may  more  assuredly  find  a  way  through  the  creedal 
perplexities  which  beset  us  from  all  sides  in  our  approach 
towards  Church  unity.  For  the  Catholic  Church  must  needs 
comprehend  the  teachings  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth  within  the 
whole  household  of  faith  even  to  this  present  time.  For 
when  has  the  Spirit  of  Truth  said  to  the  fathers  or  to  us 
of  His  work  of  teaching  divinity, — it  is  finished?     The 

55 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

unity  of  the  Catholic  faith  is  not  therefore  to  be  sought  for 
either,  on  the  one  hand,  by  reducing  the  creeds  of  Christen- 
dom to  a  minimum,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  by  making  any 
single  confession,  ancient  or  modern,  the  rule  of  faith  for 
all  believers,  or  any  one  church  the  only  true  church.  Chil- 
lingworth,  the  author  of  the  "Religion  of  Protestants,"  was 
of  a  better  mind,  when  he  subscribed  to  the  articles  of  the 
Church  as  articles  of  unity,  and  because  he  believed  the 
truth  in  them  was  more  than  their  errors.  Creeds  are 
symbols  of  the  faith,  not  iron  boxes  in  which  to  keep  a 
"deposit"  of  the  faith.  They  serve  as  guideposts  along  the 
way  rather  than  as  gates  closing  in  our  particular  posses- 
sion. The  successive  confessions  of  the  churches  are  not 
merely  scriptures  of  private  denominational  interpretation, 
but  witnesses  from  different  ages  and  in  many  tongues  of 
the  riches  of  the  glory  of  Christ's  inheritance  in  the  saints.* 

It  remains  for  us  to  apply  this  test  of  vital  values  to  the 
problems  of  unity  arising  from  differences  concerning  the 
worship  and  sacraments  of  the  Church. 

While  the  Lord's  Supper  is  the  very  center  and  hearth  of 
the  whole  household  of  faith,  around  it  have  gathered  the 
most  irreconcilable  differences  of  the  churches.  Reunion, 
therefore,  must  go  to  the  very  core  of  the  disunion.  So  long 
as  non-communion  between  churches  is  visible,  real  unity  is 
invisible.  And  belief  in  the  oneness  of  the  invisible  Church 
does  not  atone  for  the  sinful  estate  of  visible  disunity. 
Agreements  to  work  together  outside  the  churches  leave 
the  Christ  to  be  found  walking  the  streets  among  men,  but 
not  seen  in  the  midst  of  His  own  disciples.  External  federa- 
tion in  working  together,  however  desirable,  may  hide  but 
does  not  atone  for  not  living  together  in  the  one  family  and 
Church  of  God.    The  visibility  of  the  home  life,  not  of  co- 

*  Contrast  in  this  respect  Harnack's  distillation  of  Christianity  in 
his  volume,  "What  is  Christianity?"  with  Loisy's  comprehension  of 
its  historical  contents  in  his  reply  to  Harnack,  "The  Gospel  and  the 
Church." 

56 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

workers  only,  in  the  same  field, — that  is  the  real  unity  of 
the  Church.  These  still  existing  refusals  of  Christians  to 
worship  and  commune  together  might  prove  a  fatal  peril 
to  all  organized  Christianity,  if  they  should  be  tolerated  as 
necessary,  and  endeavors  to  remove  denominational  fences 
or  high,  churchly  walls  of  separation  be  regarded  as  im- 
practicable. But,  if  now,  after  this  war,  we  have  not  faith 
strong  enough  to  break  through  them,  our  epochal  oppor- 
tunity will  be  lost,  and  the  sinful  separations  become  wider 
and  worse  than  before. 

In  this  connection  attention  may  be  called  to  a  fact  which 
Loisy  has  pointed  out  in  the  suggestive  chapter  on  the 
Catholic  worship  in  his  book,  "The  Gospel  and  the  Church." 
He  notes  that  "in  matters  of  worship  the  religious  feeling 
of  the  masses  has  always  preceded  the  doctrinal  definitions 
of  the  Church  as  to  the  object  of  worship.  The  fact  is  full 
of  significance;  it  attests  the  law  which  demands  a  form  of 
worship  suitable  to  all  the  conditions  of  existence  and  to 
the  character  of  the  people  that  believes"  (p.  238).  "Chris- 
tianity had  to  find  a  ritual,  or  cease  to  exist.  For  this  rea- 
son, it  was  from  the  first  the  most  living  worship  that  can  be 
imagined.  Attempt  merely  to  conceive  those  baptisms,  with 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  and  sensible  manifestations  of  the 
Divine  Spirit;  that  breaking  of  bread,  and  the  meal  where 
the  very  presence  of  the  Master  who  had  just  left  the  earth 
was  felt;  the  songs,  celebrating  acts  of  grace,  that  burst 
forth  from  the  heart,  the  overflowing  enthusiasm.  .  .  . 
Everything  is  living.  .  .  .  There  is  no  speculation  about  the 
token,  no  hint  of  physical  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  in  bap- 
tism, nor  of  transubstantiation  in  the  Eucharist;  but  what 
is  said  and  believed  goes  almost  beyond  these  theological 
assertions"  (p.  232  sq.).  He  traces  the  process  in  which  the 
sacramental  system  was  naturally  developed.  "The  entire 
Christian  worship  developed  around  the  supper  of  the  Eu- 
charist. .  .  .  Without  any  previously  constructed  scheme, 
an  institution  was  realized  which  surrounded  human  exist- 

57 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

ence  with  a  divine  atmosphere  and  is,  without  doubt,  by  the 
intimate  harmony  of  all  its  parts  and  the  intensity  of  its 
influence  the  most  remarkable  creation  that  has  ever  pro- 
ceeded from  a  living  religion"  (p.  349).  "Regarded  his- 
torically, the  development  shows  a  persevering  effort  on  the 
part  of  Christianity  to  penetrate  with  the  spirit  the  whole 
existence  of  man"  (p.  250).  This  view  of  the  natural  de- 
velopment of  the  sacramental  system,  which  is  indicated  in 
these  quotations,  may  have  suggestive  value  as  we  would 
find  an  open  way  of  return  to  the  inter-communion  of  all 
believers.  For  the  religious  feelings  of  the  people  of  God 
are  not  to  be  corralled  and  confined  within  any  one  con- 
fessional fold.  All  psychological  diversities  should  have  rec- 
ognition in  the  presence  of  the  Christ  for  all.  At  the  Lord's 
Supper,  if  anywhere  in  the  world,  the  saying  of  Pascal 
should  be  held  true,  "In  Christ  all  contradictions  are  recon- 
ciled." 

Three  typical  examples  of  these  varieties  of  Christian 
experience  must  suffice  for  illustration: 

The  first  is  the  commonly  received  view  and  correspond- 
ing feeling  in  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the 
non-liturgical  churches.  It  is  regarded  as  a  means  of  grace, 
and  at  the  Lord's  table  communicants  find  their  most  hal- 
lowed memories  quickened,  their  sense  of  oneness  still  with 
those  who  have  been  taken  from  their  homes  made  more 
real,  and  their  faith  strengthened,  as  they  feel  more  deeply 
the  death  of  Christ  for  them,  and  His  Life  dwelling  within 
them.  It  is  more  to  them  than  a  mere  memorial  service 
such  as  might  be  held  elsewhere;  the  bread  and  the  wine 
are  symbols  of  a  present  and  abiding  reality.  So  to  hum- 
blest cottagers  in  some  wayside  chapel  the  Lord's  Supper 
has  meant  more  in  their  religious  feeling  of  comfort  and 
assurance  of  faith  than  could  have  been  expressed  in  words 
or  confessed  in  written  creed. 

An  example  of  the  type  at  the  other  end  of  the  range  of 

58 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

sacramental  experience  is  furnished  in  the  life  of  Newman, 
whose  views  of  the  development  of  Catholic  doctrine  we 
have  been  reviewing.  This  passage  is  taken  from  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  an  intimate  friend  shortly  after  he  had 
received  his  first  communion  in  the  Catholic  Church. 

I  am  writing  next  room  to  the  Chapel.  It  is  such  an 
incomprehensible  blessing  to  have  Christ's  bodily  presence 
in  one's  house,  within  one's  walls,  as  swallows  up  all  other 
privileges  and  destroys,  or  should  destroy,  every  pain.  To 
know  that  He  is  close  by, — to  be  able  again  and  again 
through  the  day  to  go  in  to  Him;  and,  be  sure  my  dearest 
W.,  when  I  am  thus  in  His  Presence  you  are  not  forgotten. 
It  is  the  place  for  intercession  surely,  where  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  is.  Thus  Abraham,  our  father,  pleaded  before 
his  hidden  Lord  and  God  in  the  valley.  (Life  of  Newman, 
J.  Wilfred  Ward,  v.  i,  p.  118.) 

To  many  Protestants  these  words  might  seem  unreal,  as 
the  doctrinal  term,  transubstantiation,  to  which  Newman 
assented,  would  be  unintelligible.  Many  will  look  upon  all 
such  uses  of  symbols  as  superstitions.  It  would  be  easier 
for  an  outstanding  Puritan  to  denounce  them  than  it  would 
be  for  him  to  take  pains  to  understand  what  they  may  have 
meant  to  others  who  have  Christ  present  to  them  in  the 
Sacrament.  Hence  have  come  divisions  among  us, — mis- 
understandings between  opposite  personal  psychologies,  and 
withal  mutual  intolerance  and  the  casting  out  of  charity  that 
thinketh  no  evil. 

But  to  Newman  these  were  natural  expressions  of  a  real 
religious  experience.  A  mind  so  sensitive  as  his  to  the  dif- 
ficulties of  faith,  and  so  persistently  logical,  could  hardly 
have  rested  in  words  that  had  to  him  no  rational  content. 
Fortunately  Newman  has  recalled  some  of  his  earlier  mental 
tendencies,  running  back  to  his  boyhood,  which  may  enable 
us  to  enter  into  his  later  experience  in  his  transition  from 
Oxford  to  Rome,  and  to  conceive  at  least  how  in  that 

59 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

Chapel  next  to  his  study  he  could  find  the  presence  of  Christ 
so  indescribably  real  as  he  wrote  that  it  was. 

At  Oxford,  in  his  youth,  he  read  Butler's  Analogy,  the 
study  of  which  he  says  was  to  him,  as  it  has  been  to  so 
many  others,  an  era  in  the  history  of  his  religious  opinions. 
What  is  unique,  however,  as  a  result  of  his  study  of  it,  he 
tells  us  in  these  words: 

If  I  may  attempt  to  determine  what  I  most  gained  from 
it,  lay  in  two  points.  .  .  .  they  are  the  underlying  principles 
of  a  great  portion  of  my  teaching.  First,  the  very  idea  of  an 
analogy  between  the  separate  works  of  God  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  system  which  is  of  less  importance  is 
economically  or  sacramentally  connected  with  the  more 
momentous  system,  and  of  this  conclusion  the  theory,  to 
which  I  was  inclined  as  a  boy,  viz.,  the  unreality  of  mate- 
rial phenomena,  is  an  ultimate  resolution.  Secondly,  But- 
ler's doctrine  that  Probability  is  the  guide  of  life,  led  me, 
at  least  under  the  teacher  to  which  a  few  years  later  I  was 
introduced,  to  the  question  of  the  logical  cogency  of  faith, 
etc.     ("Apologia  pro  sua  Vita,"  p.  10.) 

Here  we  have  disclosed  the  two  psychological  deter- 
minants— the  sense  of  the  unreality  of  the  material,  and 
the  mental  demand  for  logical  cogency — existing  and  run- 
ning along  together  through  his  life,  and  rendering  his  expe- 
rience in  the  Chapel  and  the  study  next  to  it,  as  he  passed 
from  one  to  the  other,  an  experience  of  religious  life  at  once 
real  and  indescribable. 

To  put  the  symbol  in  the  place  of  the  reality  may  be 
superstitious  or  idolatrous.  There  is  this  peril  whether  one 
identifies  a  formula  of  words  with  the  truth,  or  offers  adora- 
tion before  a  picture  over  an  altar,  or  makes  outward  nature 
itself  the  object  of  worship.  But  symbolism  is  the  gift  of 
God  to  the  imagination.  Through  the  symbol  one  may  draw 
near  the  Reality.  One  may  appreciate  more  truly  how  New- 
man with  his  rare  penetrative  and  realistic  power  of  the 
spiritual  imagination  could  discern  in  and  through  the  sacra- 

60 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

ment  the  personal  presence  of  the  Lord,  if  ever  one  has  felt 
as  Newman  felt  in  sacred  places,  or  realized  as  he  could,  the 
nearness  of  someone  dearly  loved,  but  now  seen  no  more; 
as  these  passages  from  Newman's  letters  show.  He  writes 
thus  of  entering  a  beautiful  church  in  Milan: 

"And  it  is  so  calm  .  .  .  that  it  is  always  a  rest  to  the 
mind  to  enter  it.  Nothing  moves  there  but  the  distant 
glittering  lamp  which  betokens  the  Presence  of  Our  Undying 
Life,  hidden  but  ever  working,  though  entered  into  His 
rest."  .  .  . 

It  is  really  most  wonderful  to  see  the  Divine  Presence 
looking  out  almost  into  the  open  streets  from  the  vari- 
ous Churches,  so  that  at  St.  Lawrence's  we  saw  the  people 
take  off  their  hats  from  the  other  side  of  the  street  as  they 
passed  along.     (Ward,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  139.) 

This  extract  from  a  letter  written  after  the  death  of  his 
sister  Mary,  whom  he  had  dearly  loved,  may  come  closer 
home  to  the  inner  life  of  many: 

I  never  felt  so  intensely  the  transitory  nature  of  this  world 
as  when  most  delighted  with  these  country  scenes.  .  .  . 
Dear  Mary  seems  embodied  in  every  tree  and  hid  behind 
every  hill.  What  a  veil  and  curtain  this  world  of  sense  is! 
beautiful  but  still  a  veil.    (Op.  cit.,  p.  41.) 

A  third  illustration  comes  nearer  a  common  feeling  and 
understanding  of  believers.  It  is  taken,  however,  not  from 
a  Protestant  but  from  a  Roman  Catholic  source.  A  group 
of  Catholic  priests  in  an  appeal  made  to  Pope  Pius  X,  en- 
titled, "What  We  Want," — one  of  the  earliest  utterances  of 
the  so-called  Modernists, — expressed  what  the  sacrament  of 
the  Eucharist  meant  to  them,  in  these  words: 

So  again,  to  explain  the  Eucharist  mystery,  we  cannot  for 
ourselves  adopt  the  theory  of  Transubstantiation,  unless  no 
one  is  to  understand.  But  we  shall  say  that  the  faithful 
after  the  word  of  consecration,  while  with  the  senses  of  their 

61 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

bodily  life  they  will  see  only  bread  and  wine,  will  yet  with 
the  soul,  by  means  of  a  super-phenomenal  experience  of 
faith,  in  short,  be  in  contact  with  the  real  and  living  Christ, 
who,  before  He  died,  gathered  his  disciples  to  a  fraternal 
feast  to  communicate  to  them  for  the  last  time,  the  bread  of 
Eternal  Life — will  be  in  contact  with  the  Christ  suspended 
upon  the  Cross,  the  Victim  of  justice  and  peace.  ("An  Open 
Letter  to  Pius  X,"  from  a  "Group  of  Priests,"  191 7.) 

The  mediaeval  scholastics,  applying  Aristotle  to  the  teach- 
ings of  Christ,  elaborated  the  distinctions  between  matter 
and  form,  accidents  and  substance,  and  crystallized  their 
reasonings  in  the  word  transubstantiation.  But  flowing 
deeper  and  broadly  through  all  this  long  history  of  theologi- 
cal Christianity  was  the  Life  of  the  Christ  in  the  lives  of 
martyrs  and  saints  and  through  the  unceasing  succession  of 
believers;  and  the  movement  and  power  of  the  world's  expe- 
rience of  Christ  cannot  be  measured  or  stayed  within  the 
limits  of  all  the  creeds,  either  of  Roman  Catholic  or  Protes- 
tant. The  Christian  consciousness  of  God  in  Christ  tran- 
scends its  expressions.  No  symbolism  may  be  either  too 
rude  or  too  rich  for  worshipful  use;  all  created  things  are 
signs  and  means  for  spiritual  expression, — whether  they  be 
things  for  the  eye  to  see,  or  harmonious  sounds  for  the  ear 
to  hear,  all  are  ours  for  spiritual  uses.  It  would  be  for  the 
Church  to  despise  the  good  gifts  of  God  in  nature  to  the 
Spirit  that  is  in  man,  should  it  refuse  Him  that  speaketh  in 
divers  ways  through  the  symbolism  of  the  world  of  sense  and 
sound.  The  one  Church  of  the  God  of  the  living  must  be 
both  high  and  low  and  broad  enough  to  comprehend  all 
worshipful  psychologies.  So  Jesus  Himself  did  as  He  went 
about  among  men. 

As  we  come  out  to  the  conclusion  of  this  way  of  analogies 
between  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  there  rises  before  us  a 
clear  and  majestic  vision  of  the  Church  of  God.  Behold  the 
consummate  creation  of  the  Spirit  in  human  history!  From 
the  elemental  foundations  of  nature  it  has  been  upbuilt.    Its 

62 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  DEVELOPMENT 

materials  have  been  drawn  from  all  peoples  and  times.  Its 
structural  unity  is  the  law  of  one  and  the  selfsame  Spirit. 
Its  Maker  and  Builder  is  God.  The  generations  of  men, 
passing  by,  look  up  and  confess,  "We  believe  in  the  one 
Holy  Catholic  Church." 

The  testimony  of  Jesus,  said  the  angel  of  the  Apocalypse, 
is  the  Spirit  of  prophecy.  The  testimony  of  Jesus  as  wit- 
nessed in  His  life  with  His  disciples,  and  through  the  expe- 
rience of  the  Christ  which  has  continued  through  the  ages 
past  even  until  now,  is  the  Spirit  of  prophecy.  From  that 
unbroken  line  we  look  forward  until  He  comes. 

The  historian  had  true  insight  into  the  prophetic  testi- 
mony of  Jesus  through  the  past,  who,  as  he  gathered  up  his 
materials  for  his  history  of  the  Church,  wrote  these  words: 
"Only  that  which  has  at  some  time  truly  lived  and  thereby 
become  immortal  by  representing  a  ray  of  the  Christian's 
spirit,  forms  part  of  history,  which  is  a  history  not  of  the 
dead,  but  of  the  living."  The  history  of  that  which  has 
been  lived  in  Christ  is  the  prophecy  of  the  living  Church 
that  is  to  be.  Whatever  else  we  may  hold  in  our  separations 
to  be  essential  for  us  to  keep,  may  perish,  the  testimony  of 
Jesus  in  the  religious  life  of  His  disciples  shall  live  on  and 
on  in  the  one  Church  of  the  past,  the  present  and  the  here- 
after. Whatsoever  is  not  of  the  testimony  of  Jesus  shall 
fail.    Only  His  life  in  the  churches  is  prophetic. 

As  the  ways  of  the  Lord  alike  through  nature,  through  his- 
tory, and  as  He  goes  before  His  Church,  are  one  way,  so 
likewise  there  is  one  law  in  all  and  over  all — even  the  Law 
of  Love. 

So  Savonarola  gave  this  testimony  of  Jesus,  and  had  the 
prophetic  vision  of  the  city  and  church  of  God  which  was 
to  come,  when  after  his  excommunication  by  Rome  and 
while  awaiting  the  ascent  of  his  spirit  through  the  flames 
of  his  martyrdom,  he  wrote  this:  "All  theology,  all  canonical 
and  civil  laws,  all  ecclesiastical  ceremonies  are  ordained  with 

63 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

a  view  to  charity  by  God."  And  he  pronounced  a  new 
anathema:  "Therefore  on  him  that  giveth  commands  opposed 
to  charity,  which  is  the  plenitude  of  our  law,  let  him  be 
anathema!  The  new  commandment  is  love;  and  the  Church 
of  God  has  only  this  one  anathema:  it  is  enough. 


64 


T 


III 
CONCERNING  SCHISM 

HERE  has  been  a  general  agreement  among  divines 
as  to  the  sin  of  schism,  but  much  diversity  of 
opinion  as  to  who  are  the  schismatics. 

The  canons  of  the  Church  of  England  of  the  year  1603 
censured  as  authors  of  schism:  "Whosoever  shall  hereafter 
separate  themselves  from  the  communion  of  saints,  as  it  is 
approved  by  the  Apostles'  rules,  in  the  Church  of  England, 
and  combine  themselves  together  in  a  new  brotherhood, 
accounting  the  Christians  who  are  comformable  to  the  doc- 
trines, government,  rites,  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of 
England  to  be  profane  and  unmeet  for  them  to  join  with  in 
Christian  communion,  let  them  be  excommunicated  ipso 
facto,"  etc. 

The  English  reformers  were  compelled  to  regard  schism 
as  an  unnecessary  separation  from  the  Church,  or  otherwise 
to  admit  that  they  themselves  were  in  a  state  of  schism  from 
Rome.  This  note  of  the  necessity  of  separation  runs  uni- 
formly through  their  designation  of  schismatic  separation. 
Thus  Bishop  Bramhall,  for  example,  denying  that  the 
Church  of  England  is  in  a  state  of  schism,  said: 

"We  do  not  separate  ourselves  from  other  churches  (un- 
less they  chase  us  away  with  their  censures),  but  only  from 
their  errors."  He  writes  of  the  English  reformers'  separa- 
tion from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  that  "they  left  it  with 
the  same  mind  that  one  would  leave  his  father's  or  his 
brother's  house,  when  it  is  infected  with  the  plague,  with 
prayers  for  their  recovery,  and  with  desire  to  return  again, 

65 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

so  soon  as  that  may  be  done  with  safety."     (Protestants' 
Ordination  Defended,  Works,  vol.  v.,  p.  205.) 

Irenaeus's  view  of  schism  as  a  want  of  charity: 

Irenaeus  described  "them  that  make  schisms,  who  are 
empty  of  the  love  of  God,  and  look  to  their  own  benefit 
rather  than  to  the  union  of  the  Church,  who  for  any  and 
every  reason  will  maim  and  mutilate  and  as  far  as  in  them 
lies  destroy  the  great  and  glorious  Body  of  Christ;  speaking 
peace  and  working  war;  truly  straining  out  the  gnat  and 
swallowing  the  camel;  seeing  that  no  reformation  they  can 
effect  can  be  so  great  as  is  the  harm  of  schism.  .  .  .  But 
more  precious  than  knowledge,  more  glorious  than  prophecy, 
excellent  above  all  other  charismata,  is  the  especial  gift  of 
charity."  {Adv.  Haer.,  iv.,  xxx.,  i.-xxiii.,  8,  as  given  by 
Turner,  "Early  History  of  the  Church,"  p.  126.) 

St.  Augustine's  admonition: 

And  we  act  rightly  who  do  not  dare  to  repudiate  God's 
sacraments  even  when  administered  by  heretics.  For  in  all 
points  in  which  they  think  with  us  they  are  in  communion 
with  us,  and  are  only  severed  from  us  in  those  points  in 
which  they  dissent  from  us.  .  .  .  But  whenever  he  (a  sepa- 
ratist) desires  to  conduct  himself  as  is  customary  in  the 
state  of  unity  in  which  he  himself  received  the  lessons  which 
he  seeks  to  follow,  in  these  points  he  remains  a  member,  and 
is  united  to  the  corporate  whole. 

^Numerous  definitions  of  schism  might  be  cited  from  the 
writings  of  successive  English  prelates  and  divines,  all  very 
much  of  the  same  tenor,  this  later  one  from  the  recent 
Bishop  of  Oxford  indicates  sufficiently  their  general  agree- 
ment: 

Schism  is  "a  wilful  self-withdrawal  from  the  legitimate 
succession  of  the  Catholic  Church  .  .  .  the  wilful  causing  of 
a  breach  inside  the  Church."  (I  give  this  as  quoted  by  Wil- 
son, op.  cit,  p.  200,  from  Dr.  Gore's  "Roman  Catholic 
Claims,"  p.  126.) 

66 


CONCERNING  SCHISM 

The  following  from  Jeremy  Taylor's  "Liberty  of  Proph- 
esying" may  illustrate  the  tone  of  the  more  moderate 
Churchmanship: 

As  to  particular  churches  they  are  bound  to  allow  com- 
munion to  all  those  that  profess  the  same  faith  upon  which 
the  Apostles  did  give  communion.  To  make  the  way  to 
heaven  straiter  than  God  did  make  it,  or  to  deny  to  com- 
municate with  those  whom  God  will  vouchsafe  to  be  united, 
and  to  refuse  our  charity  to  those  who  have  the  same  faith, 
because  they  have  not  all  our  opinions,  and  believe  not 
everything  necessary  which  we  overvalue,  is  impious  and 
schismatical ;  it  infers  tyranny  on  our  part,  and  persuades 
and  tempts  to  uncharitableness  and  animosities  on  both. 

The  early  Puritans  and  Nonconformists  on  their  part 
stoutly  maintained  that  they  were  not  schismatics.  Numer- 
ous controversial  pamphlets  from  all  sides  swarmed  around 
this  question  of  schism.  The  convictions,  as  well  as  the 
intense  feeling  prevailing  among  the  dissidents,  are  shown  in 
many  of  these  pamphlets,  as,  for  example,  this  quotation 
from  one  of  them,  entitled,  "Separation,  yet  no  Schism,  or 
Nonconformists  no  Schismatics,"  a  sermon  before  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  1675: 

Peradventure  you  say  we  have  broke  off  the  Unity  of  the 
National  Church,  which  we  ought  to  have  preserved,  I 
answer  we  have  but  broke  it  by  accident.  .  .  .  And  be  ye 
but  willing  to  receive  them  as  ministers  and  members  which 
Christ  receives  and  owns,  and  I  dare  say  we  shall  have  a 
blessed  peace. 

Thus  the  Anglican  divines,  on  the  one  hand,  defended 
themselves  from  the  charge  of  schism  by  the  Romanists, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  they  made  the  same  charge  against 
the  Nonconformists  that  they  were  schismatics.  Each  meas- 
ured out  to  the  others  the  same  measure  which  was  meted  to 
them.  What  then  shall  be  said?  Were  they  all  in  a  state 
of  schism,  which  in  itself  is  a  state  of  sin?    The  inquiry  is 

67 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

one  that  searches  to  the  heart  of  it  all  Churchism,  and  every 
denominationalism. 

Amid  the  bitter  strife  and  confusion  of  tongues  of  Laud's 
domination  of  the  Church,  there  was  privately  circulated  a 
short  essay  on  "Schism  and  Schismatics,"  by  the  "Ever 
Memorable  Mr.  John  Hales  of  Eton  College."  Many  sen- 
tences from  this  essay  are  well  worth  quoting,  such  as  these, 
for  example:  "It  is  not  the  variety  of  opinions,  but  our  per- 
verse wills,  who  think  it  meet  that  all  should  be  conceited  as 
ourselves  are,  which  hath  so  inconvenienced  the  church. 
Were  we  not  so  ready  to  anathematize  each  other,  we  might 
in  heart  be  united,  though  in  our  tongues  we  were  divided, 
and  that  with  singular  profit  to  both  sides."  The  responsi- 
bility for  schisms  in  many  cases  he  placed  on  both  sides,  as 
he  pithily  said  of  the  first  great  schism  between  the  Eastern 
and  the  Western  Church,  "I  cannot  but  see  that  all  the 
world  were  schismatics."  He  defined  schism  as  "an  unnec- 
essary separation  of  Christians  from  that  part  of  the  visible 
church  of  which  they  were  once  members."  There  may  still 
be  some  need,  though  it  is  happily  a  vanishing  one,  of  re- 
calling this  bit  of  his  keen  satire  concerning  heresy-hunting: 

Heresy  and  schism  are  two  theological  scarecrows,  which 
they  who  uphold  a  party  in  religion  use  to  fight  away  such 
as  making  inquiry  into  it,  are  ready  to  oppose  it  if  it  appear 
either  erroneous  or  suspicious.  For  as  Plutarch  reports  of 
a  painter  who,  having  unskilfully  painted  a  cock,  chased 
away  all  cocks  and  hens,  so  that  the  imperfection  of  his  art 
might  not  appear  in  comparison  with  nature;  so  men  willing 
for  ends  to  admit  of  no  fancy  but  their  own,  endeavor  to 
hinder  an  inquiry  into  it  by  way  of  comparison  of  somewhat 
with  it,  peradventure  truer,  so  that  the  deformity  of  their 
own  might  not  appear. 

Rightly  to  define  schism  we  should  first  distinguish  clearly 
between  what  organic  unity  in  the  material  world  is,  and  in 
what  sense  it  may  be  affirmed  in  the  realm  of  personal 
beings.    Confusion  in  the  discussion  of  Church  unity  results 

68 


CONCERNING  SCHISM 

from  failure  to  regard  this  distinction,  as  is  apt  to  be  the 
case  when  symbols  are  identified  with  realities,  or  metaphors 
confused  with  facts.  In  the  physical  order  organic  unity  is 
primarily  quantitative;  in  the  personal  order  it  is  essentially 
qualitative.  There  is  analogy  but  not  identity  between  the 
two.  Each  has  its  own  constitutive  units,  its  forms  of  de- 
velopment, its  lines  of  possible  growth.  In  the  former  the 
structural  units  are  ultra-microscopic  particles,  specifically 
determined  in  each  organism,  but  probably  of  similar  chemi- 
cal constitution  in  all  living  matter.  The  latter  has  likewise 
its  structural  units,  of  originally  similar  psychological  ele- 
ments, and  capable  also  of  many  diversities  in  the  develop- 
ment of  personal  characteristics.  Human  society  is  a  visible 
corporate  unity  so  far  as  it  belongs  to  the  physical  order 
determined  by  material  conditions,  and  blood  relationships, 
and  traceable  through  lines  of  descent  and  variations  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  organic  heredity.  But  in  so  far  as  it  is 
a  personal  order,  realized  in  a  union  of  individuals  in  the 
sphere  of  freedom,  it  is  more  than  a  physical  unity;  it  takes 
form  in  a  body  of  laws  and  social  institutions;  it  exists  and 
grows,  and  multiplies  according  to  the  nature  of  its  own 
spiritual  being,  and  its  history  is  the  revelation  of  the  inner 
spirit  of  its  life.  Hence,  while  it  is  visible  so  far  as  the 
external  relations  of  its  members  are  concerned,  it  is  invisi- 
ble, but  none  the  less  real,  so  far  as  its  organizing  energy  is 
of  the  spirit  spiritual. 

Apply,  then,  such  obvious  distinctions  to  the  conception 
of  the  organic  unity  of  the  Church.  That  is  at  one  and  the 
same  time,  so  far  as  it  exists,  both  a  visible  and  an  invisible 
unity.  In  its  full  realization  it  must  be  both.  It  is  an  ob- 
vious grouping  of  a  certain  number  of  individuals  at  a  par- 
ticular place  and  time,  a  definite  collection  of  personal  units. 
They  may  at  first  be  loosely  bound  together  like  a  primitive 
colony  of  cells.  But  the  organizing  principle  is  the  invisible 
spirit  of  its  life  which  carries  it  on  and  out  to  more  closely 
interwoven  and  stable  forms  of  social  well-being.    One  form 

69 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

may  be  outgrown,  and  another  may  give  place  to  one  more 
complexly  and  highly  organized.  A  separation  from  church 
organizations  which  are  no  longer  needed,  or  are  corrupt,  is 
not  of  itself  schismatic.  The  wholeness  of  the  Church  may 
require  it  for  its  survival.  But  any  breach  of  its  outward 
unity  which  at  the  same  time  violates  its  invisible  unity,  is 
a  wrong  done  to  the  Holy  Spirit  of  its  life.  And  that  is  sin- 
ful schism. 

We  may  think  of  the  visible  church  on  earth,  and  the 
invisible  communion  in  the  heavens.  Or  we  may  distin- 
guish between  the  true  members  of  Christ's  Church  and  those 
who  may  be  in  it  but  not  of  it.  There  is,  however,  another 
sense,  which  should  be  kept  in  mind,  when  we  speak  of  the 
visible  and  the  invisible  church.  A  particular  church  in  its 
place  and  time  is  a  visible  society,  but  it  stands,  or  should 
stand,  there  and  then  for  the  whole  Church  which  is  invisi- 
ble. It  is  the  visible  presentation  in  that  place  of  the  whole 
Church.  It  loses  its  consciousness  of  being  in  and  for  the 
whole  Church  at  the  peril  of  falling  into  the  sin  of  schism  of 
itself  from  the  one  body  of  Christ.  So  far  as  from  outward 
necessity,  and  not  its  own  will,  it  ceases  to  be  to  the  world 
without  the  evident  symbol  of  the  whole  Church;  so  far  as 
through  subjection  to  its  own  tradition  or  any  pride  in  its 
own  name  it  fails  to  make  evident  to  the  world  passing  by 
its  door  the  invisible  unity  of  the  whole  Church,  in  which 
it  has  its  being,  it  is  in  danger  of  falling  into  a  state  of 
schism  and  is  in  peril  of  the  judgment. 

The  supreme  obligation  of  any  part  of  the  whole  Church 
not  so  to  assert  itself  as  to  prevent  any  other  part  of  the 
Church  from  communion  with  the  whole  Church  was  clearly 
perceived  and  stated  by  an  eminent  Anglican  writer,  Thorn- 
dike,  in  his  "Due  Way  of  Composing  Differences,"  as  long 
ago  as  1660.  Of  the  article,  "The  One  Catholic  Church," 
he  writes: 

For  either  it  signifies  nothing,  or  it  signifies  that  God 

70 


CONCERNING  SCHISM 

hath  founded  one  visible  church;  that  is,  that  he  hath  obliged 
all  churches  (and  all  Christians,  of  whom  all  churches  con- 
sist) to  hold  visible  communion  with  the  whole  church  in  the 
visible  offices  of  God's  public  service.  And  therefore  I  am 
satisfied  that  the  differences  upon  which  we  are  divided  can- 
not be  settled  upon  any  terms  which  any  part  of  the  whole 
church  shall  have  just  cause  to  refuse  as  inconsistent  with 
the  unity  of  the  whole  church.  For  in  that  case  we  must 
needs  become  schismatics  by  settling  ourselves  upon  such 
laws,  under  which  any  church  may  refuse  to  communicate 
with  us,  because  it  is  bound  to  communicate  with  the  whole 
church.  (Works,  vol.  v.,  p.  27.  For  this  and  other  citations 
from  Thorndike,  see  Mason,  op.  cit.,  pp.  179-195.) 

Recognizing  this  principle,  the  question  recurs,  who,  then, 
shall  judge  between  us?    How  are  we  to  judge  ourselves? 

A  recent  candid  and  earnest  lecturer  found  himself  much 
embarrassed  as  he  pursued  this  inquiry,  How  shall  judgment 
be  rendered  amid  existing  differences  within  the  Church? 
One  after  another  he  examines  the  several  principles  of 
authority  that  are  asserted,  and  finds  them  all  wanting. 
First,  he  finds  that  it  is  laying  too  much  upon  the  Episco- 
pate to  make  it  the  determinative  factor;  the  Roman  auto- 
cratic authority  also  fails,  as  indeed  there  have  been  schisms 
between  contesting  claimants  for  St.  Peter's  chair.  The 
Independent  theory  likewise  is  insufficient  as  that  involves 
the  judgment  of  some  single  separated  part  over  all  other 
parts  of  the  body.  The  federative  principle  evades  and  does 
not  solve  the  vital  problem  because  it  neither  begins  nor 
ends  with  any  inherent  principle  of  judgment  of  the  whole 
body  by  the  life  of  the  body  as  a  whole.  Or,  as  from  our 
biological  point  of  view  one  would  say,  it  is  not  an  organism 
judging  in  what  its  own  life  consists.  The  denominational 
principle  he  puts  aside  as  a  confession  of  natural  inability 
to  meet  the  moral  responsibility  of  the  oneness  of  the  whole 
Church.  Finally  this  writer  falls  back  upon  the  principle 
of  "brotherhood"  within  the  Church.    That,  at  least,  it  may 

7i 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

be  said,  is  an  integrating  element  of  the  continuous  life  of 
the  Church.* 

Naturally  this  author  fails  to  find  an  authority  to  judge 
the  churches,  because  such  authority  comes  not  from  above, 
nor  from  below,  but  is  from  within;  it  is  the  Spirit  which 
beareth  witness  of  itself  in  and  through  the  continuous  life 
of  the  Church.  It  is  the  unceasing  self-judgment  of  the 
Church  by  the  Spirit  which  dwelleth  within  it.  To  this 
single  and  searching  test  the  chief  of  the  Apostles  brought 
the  primitive  churches;  If  any  man  hath  not  the  Spirit  of 
Christ,  he  is  none  of  his:  he  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all 
things,  and  he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man.  Have  we  the 
mind  of  Christ? 

Penetrating  to  the  dividing  of  soul  and  ecclesiastical 
body,  decisive  for  judging  whether  our  own  or  another 
communion  is  of  the  one  true  Church  of  Christ,  may  well 
be  for  us  all  in  this  day  of  the  Lord's  searching  of  his  people, 
that  first  use  of  the  word  catholic  in  the  sub-apostolic  age, 
by  Ignatius,  "Wherever  Jesus  Christ  is,  there  is  the  Catholic 
Church."  It  is  God's  will  to  sum  up  all  things  in  Christ. 
For  one  to  subtract  one's  own  things  from  the  things  of 
others  in  Christ,  is  itself  an  act  of  schism.  And  by  the  same 
sign  to  refuse  to  receive  the  things  which  others  have  found 
in  their  vital  experience  to  be  of  Christ,  is  schismatical. 

For  continuance  in  the  sinful  state  of  schism  each  Church 
must  stand  at  the  judgment  before  its  own  Master  and  Lord. 
The  prophets  of  reconciliation  from  the  past,  of  whom  in 
their  times  the  world  was  not  worthy,  would  rise  up  in 
judgment  against  us,  if  we  see  not  in  this  generation  the 
sign  of  the  Son  of  man.  The  Apostles  of  reasonableness 
from  among  our  own  ancestors  would  be  witnesses  against 
us,  if  we  find  not  now  the  way  of  peace  for  the  Churches. 
The  hopes  that  have  been  disappointed,  the  efforts  that  have 
failed,  the  prayers  that  wait  to  be  answered  from  the  ages 

♦Unit}'  and  Schism,  T.  A.  Lacy.  The  above  is  a  summary  of  his 
chief  points. 

72 


CONCERNING  SCHISM 

past,  would  be  our  greater  condemnation,  if  now  our  free 
churches  can  consent  longer  to  remain  divided,  and  we 
should  throw  off  upon  some  distant  future  our  present  re- 
sponsibility for  continuance  in  the  sinful  state  of  schism. 

The  Puritans,  who  first  established  their  churches  for 
themselves  and  their  children  in  New  England,  in  their 
covenant  and  declaration  of  their  faith  at  Cambridge  in 
1648,  made  in  its  preface  this  stirring  appeal;  not  for  their 
immediate  successors  only  may  it  avail,  but,  as  a  voice 
indeed  crying  from  the  wilderness,  may  it  be  heard,  calling 
us  all  to  repent  of  our  divisions,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  at  hand! 

It  will  be  far  from  us  so  to  attest  the  discipline  of  Christ,  as 
to  detest  the  disciples  of  Christ;  so  to  contend  for  the  seam- 
less coat  of  Christ  as  to  crucify  the  living  members  of 
Christ;  so  to  divide  ourselves  about  Church  communion,  as 
through  breaches  to  open  a  wide  gap  for  a  deluge  of  Anti- 
Christian  and  profane  malignity  to  swallow  up  both  Church 
and  State.  What  shall  we  say  more?  Is  difference  about 
Church-order  become  an  inlet  for  all  disorders  in  the  king- 
dom? hath  the  Lord  indeed  left  us  to  such  hardness  of  heart, 
that  Church  government  shall  become  a  snare  to  Zion  (as 
sometimes  Moses  was  to  Egypt,  Ex.  10:  7),  that  we  cannot 
leave  contesting  and  contending  about  it,  till  the  kingdom 
be  destroyed?  Did  not  the  Lord  Jesus,  when  He  dedicated 
His  sufferings  to  His  Church,  and  also  unto  His  Father, 
make  it  His  earnest  and  only  prayer  for  us  in  this  world 
that  we  all  might  be  one  in  Him?  And  is  it  possible  that 
He  (whom  the  Father  heard  always)  should  not  have  His 
last  and  solemn  prayer  heard  and  granted?  Or  shall  it  be 
granted  for  all  the  saints  elsewhere,  and  not  for  the  saints  in 
England?  so  that  amongst  them  dissension  shall  grow  even 
about  Church-union  and  communion? 


73 


IV 

THE  HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF 
APPROACH* 

MY  topic  is  the  historical  approach  to  the  problem 
of  Church  unity.  This  historical  method  in  our 
day  is  somewhat  different  from  what  it  used  to 
be.  We  have  come  to  see  that  we  can  draw  few  reliable 
conclusions  from  a  certain  kind  of  historical  research  into 
the  subject  of  Church  origins  and  of  Church  authenticity. 
The  effort,  namely,  to  discover  what  was  the  habit  and  prac- 
tice of  the  early  and  Apostolic  Church  as  the  basis  for  the 
reunion  of  Christendom  has  proved  to  be  more  or  less  futile. 
In  the  first  place,  that  effort  is  sure  to  be  inconclusive  in  its 
results.  That  is  not  to  impugn  the  value  of  historical  study, 
or  to  say  that  history  is  not  a  science;  but  as  Canon  Raw- 
linson  has  remarked,  "Inasmuch  as  'history  never  repeats 
itself,'  historical  conclusions,  unlike  those  of  the  physical 
sciences,  are  un verifiable.  They  can  never  be  subjected  to 
the  test  of  experiment,  and  consequently  they  can  never  be 
'proved.'  "f  And  since  the  evidence  in  the  case  is  at  its 
best  "fragmentary  and  disputable,"  there  will  always  be  a 
"margin  of  ambiguity";  the  facts  in  the  case  are  "com- 
patible" with  the  view  of  those  who  assert  the  theory  of  an 

*The  revision  of  a  paper  read  January  23,  1917,  at  a  meeting  of 
the  North  American  Committee  in  preparation  for  the  World  Con- 
ference of  Faith  and  Order.  Reprinted  with  permission  from  the 
Constructive  Quarterly,  September,  191 7. 

t"The  Principle  of  Authority"  in  the  volume  of  "Foundations," 
p.  384. 

74 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

original  apostolic  succession,  but  they  do  not  "necessitate" 
it  (p.  383),  and  the  effort  to  lay  the  foundation  of  any 
theory  of  the  Church  on  historical  facts,  and  on  these  alone, 
is  sure  to  be  inconclusive  and  to  lead  nowhere.  Moreover, 
even  if  it  could  be  'proved/  as  we  say,  that  this  or  that 
theory  of  the  Church  or  practice  of  Church  government  did 
obtain  in  the  Church  of  post-apostolic  times,  it  would  not 
therefore  follow  that  it  is  to  be  absolutely  repeated  in  the 
belief  and  practice  of  today.  The  Church  treasures  many 
truths  and  follows  many  practices  which  admittedly  are  not 
to  be  found  in  the  earliest  history  of  the  Church.  The  idea 
that  the  norm  of  the  Church  was  determined  in  the  first 
hundred  years  of  its  life  would  seem  to  limit  the  operation  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

But  now  there  are  two  directions  in  which  the  historical 
method  may  well  be  applied — indeed  must  be,  if  we  are  to 
make  any  advance  in  our  approach  to  the  problem  of  Church 
unity.  The  first  of  these  is  a  careful  review  of  certain 
episodes  in  Church  history,  where  the  diverging  currents  of 
Church  life  may  be  said  to  have  their  origin.  And  the 
second  of  these  is  an  historical  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
those  religious  ideas  which  have  become  incorporated  in 
the  different  communions  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  must 
be  reunited  in  the  One,  Holy,  Catholic  Church,  the  object 
of  our  hopes  and  prayers.  It  is  of  these  two  uses  of  the 
historical  method  that  I  wish  briefly  to  speak. 

One  of  those  crucial  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
in  which  divergent  currents  of  Church  life  had  their  origin, 
is  surely  that  of  the  Reformation.  And,  to  illustrate 
partially  our  subject,  let  us  look  closely  at  one  phase  of  the 
Reformation  period,  namely  the  development  of  Church  life 
in  England.  We  find  ample  materials  here  for  a  thoughtful 
and  promising  application  of  the  use  of  a  true  historical 
inquiry.  A  careful  review  of  this  whole  period  in  the  light 
of  modern  Church  thought  and  feeling,  in  the  expectation 
that  after  that  long  and  tragic  story  is  reviewed  some  basis 

75 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

will  be  discovered  on  which  reunion  may  be  achieved,  must 
have  fruitful  and  permanent  results.  Was  there  ever  a  day 
when  such  a  task  could  be  entered  upon  so  hopefully  as  at 
present? 

No  one,  I  think,  can  read  even  casually  the  story  of  the 
Puritan  Secession,  without  being  convinced  of  two  things. 
First,  that  the  matters  upon  which  men  were  divided  were 
more  fundamental  than  the  matter  of  vestments,  the  sign 
of  the  Cross,  the  liberty  to  prophesy,  the  attitude  at  the 
Communion,  the  ring  at  the  marriage  service,  the  wording 
of  the  baptismal  office.  Had  all  these  been  conceded  to  the 
Puritan  conscience,  the  division  would  not  have  ended. 
Doubtless  Elizabeth  and  her  advisers  were  right,  when  with 
keen  eye  they  saw  that  the  rift  ran  deeper;  that  it  involved 
the  more  fundamental  questions  of  faith  and  order.  In 
theology,  the  difference  was  between  the  Arminian  and  the 
Calvinist;  in  form  of  worship,  between  the  liturgist  and  the 
non-liturgist ;  in  polity,  between  Episcopacy  and  either 
Presbyterianism  or  Independency.  But  now,  serious  as  the 
differences  doubtless  were,  another  fact  is  equally  clear. 
And  it  is  this:  that  the  failure  to  compose  these  differences 
was  caused,  not  by  their  undoubted  seriousness,  not  because 
these  ideas  were  fundamentally  incompatible  and  irrecon- 
cilable, but  because  of  the  temper  of  the  time,  the  temper  of 
the  men  who  engaged  in  these  high  disputes,  and  because  of 
the  underlying  assumptions  which  conditioned  and  con- 
trolled them.  Looking  back  over  these  controversies  with 
an  impartial  eye,  one  can  see  opportunity  after  opportunity 
thrown  away,  when,  without  detriment  either  to  faith  or 
order,  principles  which  seemed  to  be  opposed  might  have 
been  comprehended  in  a  higher  unity,  had  there  been  that 
irenic  and  catholic  mind  and  temper  in  the  Church,  which 
could  have  grasped  both  sides  in  this  great  issue  and  have 
understood  them  to  be  but  parts  of  a  greater  whole.  Had 
the  Puritans  but  been  less  headstrong  and  radical  in  their 
demands,  and  had  the  Churchmen  but  been  broader  and 

76 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

more  fraternal  in  their  sympathies;  had  the  Puritans  been 
less  insistent  on  breaking  with  the  historic  past  of  the 
Church,  and  had  the  Churchmen  been  more  in  touch  with 
the  age  they  had  helped  to  produce,  there  had  never  been 
the  great  and  lamentable  failure  to  understand  each  other, 
and  to  compose  the  great  ideas  for  which  they  stood. 

But  it  was  an  age  of  division.  It  was  a  time  of  no-quarter 
in  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  world.  Great  ideas  were 
contending  for  the  mastery.  Religious  feeling  ran  high. 
The  political  life  of  a  whole  nation  was  bound  up  in  the 
religious  struggle  as  had  not  been  the  case  since  the  days  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  What  one  party  denied  or  re- 
sented in  another,  it  claimed  and  defended  for  itself.  The 
whole  temper  of  the  time  made  for  division  and  not  for 
unity. 

Again:  nothing  is  clearer  than  that  the  very  idea  of  com- 
prehension, which  is  essential  to  unity  with  liberty,  was 
foreign  to  the  mind  of  the  age  in  which  the  great  Separation 
took  place.  It  was  not  an  age  of  comprehension,  it  was  an 
age  of  uniformity.  The  word  comprehension  was  indeed  on 
men's  lips;  but  the  only  comprehension  that  men  really 
comprehended  was  that  which  involved  the  unconditional 
surrender  of  their  opponents.  The  idea  of  unity  in  diversity 
was  both  intellectually  and  spiritually  unintelligible  to  an 
age  which  produced  characters  of  the  type  of  Elizabeth  and 
of  Laud,  of  Lord  Clarendon  and  Richard  Baxter.  These 
people  were  not  what  in  the  language  of  the  day  could  be 
called  good  "mixers";  and  ideas  for  which  they  stood  did 
not  easily  coalesce.  Let  one  look  beneath  the  surface  of 
any  of  the  three  great  historic  and  futile  attempts  which 
were  made  to  hold  together  the  Church,  and  one  finds  the 
underlying  assumption  of  a  uniformity  of  either  one  kind 
or  another,  the  fatal  rock  on  which  they  all  split. 

When  King  James  at  Hampton  Court  declared  "that  a 
presbytery  agreeth  as  well  with  monarchy  as  God  with  the 
Devil,"  he  put  the  case  about  as  all  men  felt  it.    There  were 

77 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

arguments  in  plenty  to  prove  that  the  Church  of  England 
was  divine  in  its  origin  and  structure,  and  that  the  Puritan 
Church  was  the  same.  But  one  reads  the  whole  bitter  story 
without  coming  across  a  single  argument  to  prove  that  both 
were  taught  of  the  same  Spirit  and  were  therefore  com- 
patible the  one  with  the  other.  The  whole  intellectual 
premise  upon  which  these  debates  proceeded  was  that  the 
one  must  supplant  the  other;  in  vain  does  one  look  for  the 
accepted  and  controlling  idea  that  the  one  might  supplement 
the  other.  The  materials  for  unity  were  at  hand.  They  are 
to  be  found  in  the  irenic  declaration  of  Charles  II  when  he 
called  the  Savoy  Conference,  of  which  a  conformist  writer 
said:  "If  ever  a  divine  sentence  was  in  the  mouth  of  any 
king  and  his  mouth  erred  not  in  judgment,  I  verily  believe 
it  was  thus  with  our  present  majesty  when  he  composed  that 
admirable  declaration,  which  next  to  Holy  Scripture  I  adore, 
and  think  that  the  united  judgment  of  the  whole  nation 
cannot  frame  a  better  or  more  unexceptional  expedient  for 
a  firm  and  lasting  concord  of  these  distracted  Churches." 
They  are  to  be  found  in  the  equally  broad-minded  attitude 
of  William  of  Orange  in  his  opening  address  to  the  House 
of  Commons  when  he  said:  "I  hope  you  will  leave  room  for 
the  admission  of  all  Protestants  that  are  willing  and  able  to 
serve.  Their  conjunction  in  my  service  will  tend  to  the 
better  uniting  you  among  yourselves  and  the  strengthening 
you  against  your  common  enemies."  And  even  more  ex- 
plicitly they  are  to  be  found  in  the  proposals  of  Dr.  Tillot- 
son,  afterward  archbishop,  to  the  convocation  ordered  by 
William,  which  called  for  a  review  of  the  Liturgy;  a  leaving 
indifferent  of  certain  ceremonies  enjoined  in  the  Liturgy  or 
Canons;  a  recognition  of  the  validity  of  the  ordination  of 
the  ministers  of  foreign  reformed  Churches;  and  an  agree- 
ment that  those  who  have  been  ordained  only  by  presbyters 
shall  not  be  compelled  to  renounce  their  former  ordinations. 
The  materials  are  not  wanting;  the  history  of  the  period 
abounds   in  propositions  within  which  the  unity  of  the 

7» 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

Church  might  have  been  preserved.  But  no  sooner  do  we 
enter  the  Savoy  Conference,  or  open  the  doors  of  the  Convo- 
cation of  1689,  than  we  find  the  possibility  of  peace  and 
unity  outlawed  at  once,  not  for  the  want  of  materials,  but 
for  want  of  the  right  temper,  and  the  necessary  underlying 
intellectual  and  spiritual  assumptions  which  alone  could  use 
and  shape  those  materials  to  the  desired  end. 

To  those  who  regard  the  visible  unity  of  Christendom  as 
the  greatest  need  of  our  common  Christianity,  it  must  be  a 
cause  of  ever  recurring  regret  that  the  efforts  made  to  pre- 
serve that  unity  in  the  English-speaking  Church  came  to 
nothing.  But  a  review  of  that  great  historic  failure  has  in 
it  this  great  element  of  hope,  that  it  reveals  the  undoubted 
fact  that  the  reason  for  that  failure  lay  not  in  the  utter 
incompatibility  of  the  ideas  for  which  the  great  contending 
parties  stood — but  solely  in  the  temper  of  the  time  and  in 
the  character  of  its  ruling  ideas.  Once  let  that  fact  be 
gripped,  and  the  future  glows  with  promise.  The  temper  of 
that  age  is  not  the  temper  of  ours.  The  ruling  ideas  of  that 
time  are  not  the  governing  ideas  of  our  own.  What  was 
wanting  then  is  present  now.  The  clash  of  contending  prin- 
ciples, the  strife  of  opposing  ideas,  has  given  way  to  broader 
ideas  of  peace  and  toleration.  The  fixed  notion  of  uniform- 
ity has  yielded  to  the  more  catholic  idea  of  comprehension. 
In  a  word,  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  atmosphere  in  which 
a  Church  unity  that  does  not  at  the  same  time  deny  liberty 
can  be  understood  and  realized,  is  as  present  in  our  day  as 
it  was  absent  in  the  day  of  the  great  Separation.  Imagine  a 
Savoy  Conference  in  the  year  of  grace  191 7.  In  imagination 
picture  a  second  William  of  Orange  appointing  a  Commis- 
sion having  for  its  deep  spiritual  purpose  the  prayerful  con- 
sideration of  those  questions  which  still  divide  the  children 
of  a  common  spiritual  ancestry.  Such  a  Commission 
would  meet  not  in  an  age  of  division,  but  of  unity.  The 
temper,  the  motion  of  mind  and  heart  which  tended  then 
to  keep  men  apart,  today  would  draw  them  together.    The 

79 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

conditions  which  operated  to  produce  failure  two  centuries 
ago  would  conspire  to  success  now. 

Is  it  then  too  much  to  hope  for  that  with  the  materials  still 
in  our  hands,  and  with  still  greater  spiritual  possessions  of 
the  temper  and  ideas  necessary  for  such  a  task,  we  may 
resume  in  our  day  what  was  given  up  now  over  two  cen- 
turies ago?  What  was  a  fruitless  task  then,  may  well  be 
a  fruitful  one  now;  that  which  terminated  then  in  a  great 
division,  may  well  terminate  now .  in  a  new  and  glorious 
union.  He  would  need  to  be  entrenched  within  his  own 
prejudices,  blind  to  some  of  the  most  glowing  pages  of  his- 
tory, who  would  close  his  eyes  to  such  a  hope,  and  rule  it 
out  of  the  bounds  of  possibility.  But  he  who  says,  "I  believe 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,"  must  believe 
that  by  the  operation  of  the  same  Spirit  we  shall  grow 
together  into  one  household  of  God,  being  "built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Christ  Jesus  himself 
being  the  chief  corner  stone;  in  whom  each  several  building, 
fitly  framed  together,  groweth  into  a  holy  temple  in  the 
Lord ;  in  whom  ye  also  are  builded  together  for  a  habitation 
of  God  in  the  Spirit." 

The  second  application  of  the  historical  method  in  the 
approach  to  the  problem  of  Church  unity  lies  in  the  tracing 
to  their  psychological  origins  those  religious  ideas  which 
have  become  incorporated  in  the  life  of  different  branches  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  It  consists  in  an  effort  to  appreciate 
what  we  may  call  the  religious  values  of  those  forms  of 
Church  faith  and  practice  which  have  survived  nearly  two 
thousand  years  of  Christian  life  and  worship,  and  to  study 
how  these  may  be  united  in  a  larger  conception  of  the 
Church  than  any  one  of  them  separately  represents.  The 
presupposition  is  that  the  Holy  Ghost  has  not  ceased  to 
operate  in  the  heart  of  the  Christian  body.  If  therefore 
there  is  any  solid  consensus  of  opinion  and  practice  which  a 
considerable  number  of  Christians  cherish,  which  has  been 

80 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

incorporated  by  them  in  institutional  form  and  perpetuated 
by  settled  principle,  then  that  opinion,  that  practice  has 
been  authenticated,  as  it  were,  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
problem  is  to  have  that  opinion  and  practice  recognized  and 
its  authentication  admitted  by  the  whole  body  of  Christ's 
people.  And  when  that  is  done,  the  true  dimensions  of  the 
Catholic  Church  and  its  true  inclusiveness  will  begin  to 
appear,  and  its  unity  will  rise  of  itself  out  of  a  broadened 
Christian  consciousness.  In  a  word,  the  one,  true,  Catholic 
and  Apostolic  Church  already  exists,  the  Body  and  the 
Bride  of  Christ.  But  it  is  not  yet  perceived,  and  it  is  not 
yet  realized  on  earth.  Each  one  of  the  separate  communions 
on  earth  enshrines  some  portion  of  its  total  truth,  and  em- 
bodies some  fragments  of  its  total  worth.  But  until  each 
one  perceives  that  it  is  not  in  itself  that  total  truth  and  has 
not  in  itself  that  total  worth,  until  each  one  comes  to  recog- 
nize the  religious  value  of  the  truth  embodied  in  other  com- 
munions and  thus  for  the  first  time  perceives  the  Higher 
Truth  of  which  they  are  all  a  part — Church  unity  lies  in 
the  realm  of  religious  prophecy  but  not  in  the  way  of 
immediate  fulfilment. 

At  the  present  time,  therefore,  the  real  labor  of  all  who 
yearn  for  the  unity  of  Christ's  Church  lies  there.  It  lies 
in  showing  the  entire  compatibility  of  those  seemingly  oppo- 
site ideas  of  the  Church  for  which  the  separate  communions 
stand  and  to  which  they  witness.  It  lies  in  showing  that 
men  are  in  the  main  right  when  they  assert,  and  wrong  when 
they  deny.  It  lies  in  showing  that  neither  are  all  right  nor 
all  wrong,  but  that  the  truth  lies  in  a  synthesis  of  those 
religious  values  for  which  each  stands.  Those  who  have 
insisted  on  the  value  of  liturgical  worship,  are  right.  History 
proves  it.  So  are  those  who  have  insisted  on  the  value  of 
unpremeditated,  open,  congregational  prayer.  History 
proves  that  too.  "Those  who  have  insisted  on  a  ministry 
of  order,  are  right;  so  are  those  who  have  insisted  that  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  may  light  on  any  man."    The  theory  of 

81 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

the  Sacraments  which  insists  that  the  grace  that  is  in  them 
depends  on  the  way  in  which  that  grace  is  mediated,  is 
right;  and  so  is  the  theory  which  declares  that  the  grace 
depends  on  the  faith  of  those  who  receive  them.  Under  all 
of  these  conceptions  there  is  a  common  truth  which  unites 
all  Christians.  If  Christians  can  affirm  the  truth  in  which 
they  do  believe  while  the  reality  of  that  truth  in  which  others 
believe  is  not  presumed  to  be  questioned  or  to  be  denied,  an 
approach  to  unity  is  suggested  which,  if  it  be  humbly  fol- 
lowed, must,  in  the  end,  lead  us  to  the  Higher  Truth  which 
is  the  unity  for  which  we  all  pray  and  to  which  we  all  aspire. 
That  rediscovery  is  not  best  made  by  hasty  attempts  at 
external  union.  A  common  communion  before  we  have 
acquired  the  spirit  of  union  or  the  spiritual  perception  of 
the  total  truth  which  makes  us  one,  can  hardly  hasten,  but 
may  seriously  retard,  our  progress.  But  Christians  of  all 
communions  need  a  spiritual  education  in  those  religious 
values  which  they  do  not  hold,  or  which  are  not  embodied 
in  their  own  Church  forms  and  practices.  Here  is  a  promis- 
ing and  needed  effort  in  the  field  of  Church  union  in  the  day 
in  which  we  live. 

Take,  for  example,  the  matter  of  Church  worship.  Chris- 
tians are  more  divided  at  this  point  than  most  people  like 
to  believe.  It  is  to  be  lamented  that  this  is  so,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  of  it.  I  have  heard  Episcopalians  who 
seldom  attend  any  Church  but  their  own,  and  who  have 
certain  qualms  of  conscience  if  they  do,  assert  after  leaving 
an  orderly,  dignified  and  reverent  service  of  worship  in  a 
non-Episcopal  Church,  that  it  did  not  even  seem  to  them 
that  they  had  been  to  church  at  all.  And  non-Episcopalians 
untrained  in  the  Prayer  Book  and  its  forms  of  worship  fre- 
quently come  away  with  anything  but  a  restful  and  grateful 
sense  of  having  been  in  the  House  of  the  Lord.  Each  has 
been  so  strictly  trained  in  his  own  form  and  method  of 
worship  that  the  other  seems  strange,  unfamiliar,  and  often 
even  forbidding.    Yet  underlying  both  there  is  the  common 

82 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

faith  that  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  His 
Name,  there  is  He  in  the  midst  of  them;  that  supernatural 
grace,  of  which  the  world  knows  nothing,  awaits  the  souls 
that  meet  before  the  invisible  throne  of  grace;  that  prayer 
can  bring  down  unearthly  blessings;  that  divine  pardon  can 
wash  a  guilty  soul;  that  a  lame  man  can  be  made  to  walk, 
and  a  heart  dumb  with  its  grief  can  be  made  to  sing — that, 
in  a  word,  spiritual  miracles  can  be  wrought  akin  to  those 
that  were  wrought  in  ancient  Galilee.  But  this  faith  in  the 
efficacy  of  prayer  and  worship  is  expressed  in  different  ways. 
Two  different,  and  both  true  and  efficient,  theories  of 
worship  underlie  the  services  of  the  Church.  According  to 
the  one,  the  spirit  of  devotion  is  best  expressed,  the  faith 
of  the  believer  is  best  aroused,  his  heart  touched  and  quick- 
ened, by  the  use  of  common  and  familiar  forms  of  prayer, 
which  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  efficacy  because  they  have 
been  sanctified  by  age-long  use  and  fall  like  the  dew  from 
heaven  upon  the  ear  and  heart  of  the  believer.  The  service 
of  worship  is  preserved  in  orderliness  and  assured  in  oneness 
to  all  believers,  by  the  common  use  of  its  great  manual  and 
treasury  of  devotion,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  is  the  theory  of  worship  which  insists  on 
the  idea  of  spontaneity,  which  believes  in  giving  the  Spirit 
free  rein  and  utterance,  which  feels  itself  limited  and 
cramped  by  the  necessity  of  reading  the  same  lessons,  re- 
peating the  same  prayers,  following  the  same  forms  week 
after  week  and  year  after  year.  A  book  of  devotion  has  its 
place,  according  to  this  theory  of  worship,  but  not  in  pre- 
scribing the  words  or  forms  in  which  the  quickened  heart 
shall  utter  itself.  And  any  theory  of  worship  which  does 
prescribe  those  forms  seems  to  it  to  put  a  limit  on  the 
liberty  of  prayer  and  prophecy  which  is  a  detriment  to  the 
pure  and  unrestrained  worship  and  prayer  of  God's  people. 
And  there  you  are.  These  two  theories  of  worship,  each 
sound  in  itself,  exist  side  by  side,  and  there  is  precious  little 
overlapping;  there  is  precious  little  sign  that  after  two  or 

83 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

three  centuries  of  co-existence  each  so  much  as  recognizes 
the  validity  or  the  religious  value  of  the  other.  It  is  rare 
enough,  for  example,  that  one  hears  free  prayer  in  any 
Episcopal  church.  On  the  other  hand,  how  rare  it  is  in  a 
non-Episcopal  church  ever  to  hear  anything  but  free  prayer. 
If  the  laymen  in  many  of  the  non-liturgical  Churches  at 
the  time  of  devotion  hear  coming  what  promises  to  be  a 
collect,  prejudice  is  likely  to  drive  all  thought  of  prayer 
from  their  minds.  A  minister  using  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  is  sure  to  be  asked  why  he  uses  a  book  that  belongs 
to  another  Church.  When  the  matter  of  worship  is  dis- 
cussed, that  discussion  usually  consists  in  the  defence  of  one 
or  the  other  of  these  forms  of  prayer.  Thus,  Dr.  Rainsford 
has  said,  "I  do  not  believe  that  to  the  educated  spiritual 
consciousness  there  is  any  special  appeal  in  variety  of  ex- 
temporaneous prayer."  And  per  contra  old  Cotton  Mather 
has  said  that  to  use  other  than  free  and  "unstinted"  prayers 
is  a  virtual  denial  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Those  who  believe  in 
set  prayer  speak  of  the  infelicities  of  extemporaneous 
prayer,  and  those  who  believe  in  free  prayer  speak  of  the  for- 
mality and  unhelp fulness  of  read  prayers;  and  nowhere  is 
there  any  perceptible  approach  to  a  general  spiritual  compre- 
hension of  the  religious  value  of  each.  The  fact  is  that  the 
Anglican  Church  was  the  only  Reformed  Church  which  did 
not  admit  free  prayer  in  its  service;  and  the  Puritan  Church 
was  the  only  Reformed  Church  which  did  not  use  set  prayer. 
Every  other  Church  recognizes  the  place  of  each  in  its  liturgy. 
And  not  until  the  non-liturgical  Churches  recognize  the 
value  and  the  need  of  Common  Prayer  which  touches  that 
which  is  most  catholic  in  us,  "which  strongly  links  us  to 
our  kind,"  and  not  until  the  Anglican  Church  restores  to 
her  liturgy  the  free  and  unrestrained  language  of  aspiration 
and  devotion,  not  until  each  of  these  two  ideas  of  worship 
is  reinforced  by  the  other,  shall  we  approximate  that  spirit 
of  unity  which  alone  can  lead  to  a  reunited  Church.  A 
recent  writer,  Canon  Rawlinson,  in  his  article  on  the  Church 

84 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

in  the  collection  of  essays  called  "Foundations,"  an  article 
from  which  I  shall  quote  abundantly,  has  remarked  that  real 
Church  unity,  so  far  as  Church  worship  is  concerned,  cannot 
take  place  until  the  Pope  of  Rome  appreciates  and  values 
the  Methodist  prayer  meeting,  or  until  the  Puritan  learns 
to  worship  with  insight  and  devout  intelligence  at  Mass  in 
St.  Peters.*  That  is  expressing  the  thing  of  course  in  its 
ultimate  terms.  But  some  such  synthesis  in  spiritual  per- 
ception, and  appreciation  of  religious  value,  is  an  absolute 
prerequisite  to  what  we  call  Church  unity.  And  how  much 
of  an  education  is  needed  a  simple  survey  of  the  existing 
Church  order  is  sufficient  to  demonstrate  to  any  man's 
satisfaction. 

Or  here  is  the  theory  of  the  Church  itself.  Again,  at  least 
au  fond,  all  Christians  are  at  one.  No  one  who  bears  the 
name  and  shares  the  faith  of  Christ  would  put  the  Church 
beside  any  other  human  organization,  no  matter  what  it  is. 
A  thirty-third  degree  Mason  harboring  a  feeling  for  his 
order  which  is  wholly  beyond  my  ability  to  understand,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  member  of  I  care  not  what  Church,  draws 
a  line  between  the  two  which  may  be  as  thin  as  a  hair,  but 
at  the  same  time  as  fine  and  hard  as  a  diamond.  Every 
Christian  in  his  soul,  be  he  rationalist  or  sacramentarian, 
evangelical  or  sacerdotalist,  Protestant  or  Catholic,  cherishes 
a  supernatural  idea  of  the  Church,  looks  upon  it  as  the  Bride 
of  Christ,  the  supreme  object  of  His  love,  the  Body  of  Christ, 
the  very  incorporation  of  His  Spirit,  the  Heavenly  City,  the 
New  Jerusalem,  the  Communion  of  Saints. 

But  now,  starting  with  this  community  of  idea,  that  idea 
proceeds  to  work  itself  out  in  two  sharply  contrasting 
theories  of  the  Church.  According  to  the  one,  the  continuity 
of  the  Church  life  is  to  be  found  in  the  continuity  of  its 
institutions,  sacraments,  ministry;  according  to  the  other, 
in  the  continuity  of  faith,  of  evangelic  experience  in  the 

*  "Foundations,"  p.  403. 

85 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

heart  of  the  believer;  according  to  the  one,  the  Church  is  a 
kingdom  whose  power  and  authority  are  vested  in  its  rulers 
and  delegated  to  those  below;  according  to  the  other,  it  is 
a  democracy  in  which  the  power  and  authority  are  vested 
in  the  people  and  delegated  to  those  who  are  above. 
According  to  the  one,  the  Church  is  above  all  an  outward 
and  visible  entity,  authenticated  in  history  by  its  apostolic 
priesthood,  an  organic  body  apart  from  which  no  Churches, 
but  only  other  Christian  bodies  or  communions,  exist. 
According  to  the  other,  the  Church  is  above  all  an  invisible 
and  spiritual  order,  authenticated  in  history  by  the  per- 
petuation of  faith  in  the  hearts  of  Christ's  people,  so  that 
wherever  faith  is,  there  is  the  Church,  and  wherever  faith  is 
not,  there,  no  matter  what  external  proprieties  may  exist, 
there  is  no  Church.  According  to  the  one,  the  outstanding 
Church  figure  is  the  priest;  according  to  the  other,  the 
prophet. 

In  a  word,  the  one  is  the  Catholic,  the  other  the  Protes- 
tant idea  of  the  Church.  The  one  lays  stress  on  the  institu- 
tional, the  other  on  the  non-institutional  and  purely 
evangelical  idea;  of  which  the  one  tends  to  regard  the 
ministry  as  primarily  sacerdotal,  the  other  as  primarily 
prophetic.  Of  course  this  antithesis  is  never  quite  absolute; 
the  priest  is  expected  to  give  some  spiritual  evidence  of 
vocation,  and  the  prophet  is  expected  to  have  some  form  of 
ordination.  Nevertheless,  it  is  from  a  divergence  of  respec- 
tive emphasis  upon  the  priestly  and  prophetic  ideas  of  the 
ministry  that  whatever  is  distinctive  in  the  two  great  historic 
Christian  positions  proceeds.  Upon  the  one  hand  "we  have 
the  ministry  of  the  Sacraments  given  the  primary  place; 
stress  laid  upon  institutions  as  the  media  of  the  Spirit's 
operation;  the  conception  of  ordination,  not  as  the  recogni- 
tion, but  as  the  bestowal  of  an  office,  and  therewith  of  the 
'charisma'  or  gift  of  grace  needed  to  sustain  it;  and  the  strict 
requirement  that  men  shall  not  take  upon  themselves  the 
discharge  of  functions  in  the  Church  to  which  they  have  not 

86 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

been  formally  commissioned."*  But  upon  the  other  hand, 
the  supreme  and  determining  principle  is  simply  the  Gospel; 
it  is  by  the  heart  of  faith  that  the  Spirit  is  received ;  not  the 
Sacrament  but  Christians  are  the  true  "extension  of  the 
Incarnation";  and  the  Christian  community  is  to  be  sought 
primarily  not  in  any  outward  and  visible  network  of  eccle- 
siastical organization,  but  in  the  purely  spiritual  entity 
begotten  and  constituted  by  the  Gospel. 

Now  these  two  ideas  also  have  been  incorporated  in  two 
co-existent,  parallel  organizations  which  cannot  come  into 
union,  much  less  inter-communion,  because  there  is  no 
underlying  spiritual  apprehension  of  the  religious  value,  im- 
portance and  indispensability  of  the  truth  to  which  the  other 
bears  witness  and  of  which  it  is  a  visible  embodiment.  But 
there  is  no  likelihood  that  either  will  disappear.  The  Catho- 
lic idea  is  certainly  here  to  stay.  But  so  is  the  Protestant. 
And  the  ministries  of  various  Protestant  denominations  may 
quite  legitimately  point  to  the  witness  of  the  souls  they 
shepherd  and  may  exclaim  with  St.  Paul,  "the  seal  of  our 
apostleship  are  ye  in  the  Lord."  Regenerate  souls,  to  their 
thinking,  constitute  a  validity  of  the  Spirit  which  far  tran- 
scends the  validity  of  outward  continuity  or  of  visible  ordina- 
tion. If  each  of  these  is  here  to  stay,  the  hope  and  the  only 
hope  of  Reunion  lies  in  a  spiritual  apprehension  by  the 
proponents  and  believers  of  each  in  the  truth  for  which  the 
other  stands. 

Yet  such  an  appreciation  by  the  Protestant  of  the  Catho- 
lic Idea  of  the  Church  and  conversely  by  the  Catholic  of 
the  Protestant  Idea,  is  just  what  is  most  noticeably  absent 
at  the  present  time.  The  average  Protestant,  though  he  be 
educated  in  Church  history  and  even  trained  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Church  theory  for  the  past  two  thousand  years, 
looks  upon  the  Catholic  Idea  of  the  Church  as  an  un- 
scriptural,  an  unspiritual  and  an  unwarranted  crystalliza- 
tion in  external  and  material  forms,  of  the  'pure  Gospel. ' 

♦"Foundations,"  p.  382. 

87 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

To  him  it  is  an  obstruction  in  the  path  of  Christianity,  which 
must  be  swept  away  by  the  rising  tides  of  spirituality  before 
the  Church  can  hope  to  win  the  assent  and  loyalty  of  intelli- 
gent and  enlightened  men.  The  Catholic  Idea  of  the  Church 
is  to  him  a  survival  of  medievalism  in  our  modern  world. 
It  is  an  anachronism  which  cannot  continue  much  longer. 
I  have  talked  with  many  eminent  Protestant  preachers  and 
teachers,  and  it  is  the  rare  exception  to  discover  one  who 
has  any  patience  with  or  any  sympathetic  or  spiritual  con- 
ception of  the  Catholic  Idea  of  the  Church. 

Per  contra,  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  Catholic  who  sees  an 
historic  or  spiritual  basis  for  the  Church  in  the  Protestant 
position.  He  finds  there  much  that  is  'true'  in  individual 
Christian  experience.  He  discovers  all  the  marks  of  a  gen- 
uine Christian  piety,  an  undoubted  Christian  faith,  an 
admirable  ardor  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel.  But 
there  is  nothing  in  this  of  an  ecclesia,  a  divinely  instituted 
and  authenticated  entity  which  is  the  very  Body  of  Christ 
and  Organ  of  His  Spirit. 

And  there  you  are  again.  And  again  a  fundamental  edu- 
cation in  religious  values  alone  can  cause  these  two  Ideas 
to  coalesce  and  point  the  way  to  their  final  union  in  the 
truly  Catholic  Church.  The  Protestant  must  come  to  ap- 
prehend the  indispensability  of  the  Catholic  position;  and 
the  Catholic  must  learn  to  recognize  the  validity  of  the 
Protestant  witness;  and  together  they  must  mount  to  the 
higher  Truth  which  includes  them  both. 

"Each  of  the  two  great  Christian  types  has  need  to  be 
at  once  the  scholar  and  teacher  of  the  other.  The  final 
unity  (which  must  assuredly  be  outwrought  in  God's  good 
time)  will  come  not  by  way  of  compromise,  but  by  way  of 
comprehension.  Truth  is  a  synthesis,  not  an  elimination,  of 
differences,  and  the  claims  of  conflicting  'authorities'  must 
be  harmonized  by  being  included  and  justified,  not  negated, 
in  the  ultimate  whole."*    So-called  Catholic  religion  must 

*  "Foundations,"  p.  405. 

88 


HISTORICAL  METHOD  OF  APPROACH 

include,  if  it  would  be  perfect,  the  so-called  Protestant  Idea. 
At  its  best  this  stands  for  personal  religion,  for  the  spiritual 
freedom  of  the  individual,  and  for  his  answerableness  in  the 
last  resort  to  his  Maker  alone;  for  the  prophetic  word  as  the 
dynamic  which  alone  can  vitalize  the  ritual  of  the  priest; 
for  the  truth  of  evangelism  and  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ 
hath  made  us  free.  "The  Catholicism  of  the  future  cer- 
tainly cannot  afford  to  disregard  the  truths  of  the  Protes- 
tant witness,  and  must  to  a  certain  extent  reinterpret  and 
revalue  (without  abandoning)  its  institutionalism  in  the 
light  of  them."*  It  will  recognize  the  right  of  all  Christian 
communities  animated  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ  to  be  included 
in  that  one  Communion  of  Saints  which  is  the  blessed  Body 
of  Christ's  faithful  people;  it  will  recognize  the  spiritual 
validity  of  any  Protestant  pastor  as  a  true  and  godly  min- 
ister of  the  Lord,  although  it  might  be  difficult  or  impossible 
to  recognize  him  apart  from  episcopal  ordination  as  in  the 
catholic  sense  and  for  Catholics  a  qualified  minister  of  the 
Sacraments;  it  will  stress  the  faith  of  the  believer  as  well  as 
the  regular  responsibility  of  the  ministrant  as  giving  grace 
to  the  Sacraments;  and  it  will  view  the  Sacraments  them- 
selves as  one  of  the  means  of  grace  rather  than  as  the  sole 
method  of  the  impartation  of  the  full  sacramental  grace  of 
Christ. 

On  the  other  hand,  Protestantism  with  its  emphasis  upon 
personal  faith,  personal  authority,  personal  responsibility, 
personal  religion,  will  grow,  must  grow  into  an  appreciation 
of  the  importance,  indispensability  of  the  Catholic  point  of 
view.  It  must  grasp  the  necessity  of  institutionalism,  "of 
rites  and  sacraments,  as  being  neither  dead  forms,  nor 
illogical  excrescences  upon  a  religion  otherwise  wholly 
spiritual,  but  as  being  themselves  spirit  and  life,  the  natural 
and  normal  media  of  the  operation  of  the  Word-made- Flesh. 
So,  again,  Catholicism  witnesses  to  the  glory  of  Churchman- 
ship,  the  sense  of  spiritual  kinship  and  unity,  not  with  a 

*  "Foundations,"  p.  405. 

89 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

section  of  Christendom,  but  with  the  whole;  to  the  idea  of 
worship,  as  prior  in  religion  to  that  of  edification;  to  the 
communion  of  quick  and  dead  in  Christ's  mystical  Body"; 
all  of  which  "represent  elements  of  historic  religion  which 
neither  Protestantism  nor  the  universal  Church  of  the  future 
can  afford  to  lose."*  It  is  here  that  Protestantism  is  weak 
today.  Its  sense  of  Churchmanship  and  solidarity,  of  uni- 
versality, of  compactness,  of  institutionalism — is  all  weak 
where  it  needs  to  be  strong. 

What  we  need  to  pray  for,  then,  is  not  that  this  or  that 
experiment  of  reunion  shall  succeed,  not  that  this  or  that 
plan  of  an  interlocking  Church  relationship  shall  work  out, 
but  that  these  two  great  contrasting  Church  positions  and 
ideas,  each  with  a  noble  history,  each  with  spiritual  first- 
fruits  to  justify  its  truth,  each  firmly  embedded  in  the  reli- 
gious consciousness  of  our  time  and  of  all  time,  shall  come 
to  understand  each  other;  more  than  this,  shall  come  to 
understand  that  each  has  that  to  give  the  other  without 
which  it  cannot  fully  realize  its  own  true,  best  life.  What 
we  need  to  hope  and  pray  for  is,  that  out  of  a  reunited  con- 
sciousness, out  of  a  Church  consciousness  in  which  these 
two  great  historic,  but  by  no  means  exclusive,  Ideas  shall 
have  met  and  fused, — that  Church,  one  in  faith,  hope,  doc- 
trine, one  in  spirit,  love  and  truth,  may  rise  on  earth  in 
which  all  the  children  and  families  of  our  Lord  shall  meet, 
and  there  shall  be  one  fold,  one  Shepherd,  and  one  Bishop  of 
our  souls. 

*  "Foundations,"  p.  404. 


90 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE  CREED  IN  THE 
LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

IF  the  creeds  were  under  fire  before  the  war,  they  have 
certainly  been  subjected  to  a  direct  bombardment  by 
it.  All  creeds  for  some  time  have  been  at  a  great  dis- 
count, but  today  we  have  been  assured  that  they  have  been 
counted  finally  out.  Reality,  simplicity,  intelligibleness, 
rationality,  activity,  these  are  the  keynotes  of  the  religion 
of  tomorrow,  and  with  them  the  continued  use  of  antiquated 
and  metaphysical  statements  of  faith  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  do.  Even  if  the  average  man  were  able  to  under- 
stand or  to  assent  to  the  articles  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  for 
example,  these  articles  in  no  sense  describe  religion  as  a 
man  understands  it,  or  ought  to  understand  it,  or  as  he  lives 
it  or  ought  to  live  it.  It  is  not  even  an  adequate  summary 
of  the  most  salient  features  in  the  life  of  Christ.  And  it 
certainly  is  an  inadequate  summary  of  the  life  of  the  Chris- 
tian. Is  not  therefore  one  of  the  most  needed  reforms  in 
the  life  of  the  Church  in  such  a  day  as  this,  which  calls 
above  all  for  simplicity  and  reality  in  religion,  to  remove 
with  reverence,  it  may  be,  but  assuredly  with  courage  these 
ancient  survivals  of  a  faith  that  has  gone ;  to  free  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  Church,  as  it  were,  from  any  suspicion  of  intel- 
lectual insincerity;  and  to  present  men  instead,  to  quote 
Professor  Hocking,  "not  with  an  impoverished  religion  or 
with  a  minimum  faith,  but  with  a  maximum  faith  expressed 
in  intelligible  terms"? 

It  is  not  only  the  layman  who  feels  like  this  about  the 

9i 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

creeds.  Many  a  modern  minister  in  our  so-called  "free" 
churches  has  felt  that  he  had  no  more  sacred  calling  than 
to  rid  his  church  of  the  incubus  of  the  creed.  Pitching 
creeds  overboard  has  become  his  most  exhilarating  and  his 
most  sacred  task.  One  is  reminded  of  that  famous  night 
in  the  National  Assembly  in  the  early  stages  of  the  French 
Revolution  when  noble  and  bourgeois  united  in  throwing 
over  one  after  another  the  ancient  and  traditional  customs 
of  the  old  regime.  So  today  ministers  and  people  have 
worked  hand  in  glove  to  rid  the  Church  of  all  the  traditions 
of  the  old  ecclesiastical  order.  Theirs  must  be  a  Church  in 
its  thought,  ritual,  practice,  which  is  strictly  down-to-date. 

This  labor  of  ridding  the  Churches  of  their  creeds,  and 
incidentally  of  the  old  doctrines  which  the  creeds  contained 
and  intoned,  has  gone  far  enough  in  our  day  for  at  least 
some  observers  to  raise  the  question  if  already  it  has  not 
gone  too  far.  There  is  a  suspicion  somehow  that  all  is  not 
right.  For  with  the  creeds  there  seems  to  have  vanished 
something  else,  something  quite  impalpable,  something  that 
defies  description,  yet  something  that  is  felt  to  be  ponderat- 
ingly  real  and  having  immense  religious  value.  We  grope 
for  words  to  describe  it — historical  perspective,  a  sense  of 
historical  continuity;  reverence  for  the  past;  the  religious 
value  of  the  familiar,  the  ancient,  the  traditional;  the  im- 
portance of  symbolism  as  over  against  sheer  rationalism ;  the 
importance  of  intellectual  conviction  as  related  to  duty;  the 
feeling  that  theology  after  all  may  have  an  immense  bearing 
on  life.  The  wonder  is  if  after  all  we  have  not  parted  too 
hastily  with  an  immense  spiritual  possession.  The  feeling 
remains  that  our  modern  Church,  now  that  we  have  it  all 
fixed  up  and  furnished,  lacks  at  least  something  that  the 
great  cathedrals  of  the  Middle  Ages  still  possess.  How  shall 
we  word  it?    But  the  feeling  itself  will  not  down. 

It  will  not  down  when  we  look  at  the  architecture  of  many 
a  modern  church.  The  floor  is  arranged  so  that  everyone 
can  see  the  preacher.     The  aisles  converge  at  the  front. 

92 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

It  is  a  perfect  auditorium.  But  somehow  it  fails  of  being 
a  Church. 

It  will  not  down  when  we  traverse  the  service.  There  is 
not  a  note  in  it  that  can  offend  the  most  fastidious  and 
critical  intellect.  It  is  modern  to  the  last  syllable.  Even 
the  doctrinal  hymns  are  gone.  The  congregation  is  not 
asked  to  sing  "Nothing  in  my  hand  I  bring,  Simply  to  Thy 
Cross  I  cling."  Instead  it  sings  "Christian  rise  and  act 
thy  creed,  Let  thy  prayer  be  in  thy  deed."  When  the  place 
comes  for  the  Creed,  instead  of  the  old  discredited  creeds  of 
the  Church,  the  worshipper  rejoices  to  rise  and  say  "I  believe 
in  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  in 
the  Golden  Rule."  What  could  be  more  simple  and  reason- 
able? "Who  cannot  say  that?"  he  triumphantly  remarks  to 
his  friend  as  they  go  out.  The  prayers  contain  no  sug- 
gestion that  they  are  addressed  to  anyone  either  in  heaven 
or  on  earth.  And  the  sermon  is  as  shorn  of  Biblical  theology 
as  a  sheep  just  come  from  the  shearing.  What  can  be 
more  elevating,  more  rational?  And  yet  with  what  longing 
unsatisfied  does  many  a  modern  soul  escape  from  such  a 
service? 

And  it  will  not  down  either  when  one  considers  the  mood 
which  such  a  modernity  produces,  the  feeling  that  it  creates 
toward  the  Church  as  an  institution.  The  sweeping  away  of 
all  suggestion  of  supernaturalism  has  resulted  in  a  certain 
degradation  in  the  thought  of  men  for  the  Church.  Some- 
how it  has  lost  something  of  its  spiritual  authority,  describe 
it  as  you  will.  The  thin  but  hard  line  between  it  and  secular 
organizations — its  one  great  safeguard — has  become  dim  or 
disappeared  altogether.  One  'feels'  for  it  in  an  immensely 
different  fashion  from  that  feeling  which  made  St.  Francis 
kneel  at  the  altar  of  St.  Damiens,  or  makes  many  a  modern 
saint  find  in  his  Church,  as  it  were,  an  unearthly  shrine. 

Neither  will  it  down  when  we  consider  the  lack  of  stan- 
dard or  conviction  in  much  of  contemporary  religious 
thought  and  feeling.     In  our  reaction  against  dogma,  we 

93 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

have  unhappily  swung  to  the  opposite  extreme.  Men  today 
are  not  only  open-minded,  their  minds  seem  often  to  be 
open  at  both  ends.  They  are  assuredly  not  dogmatic  in  their 
beliefs.  The  question  is  whether  the  blind  and  shallow  sen- 
timent which  is  the  only  substitute  many  people  know  for 
the  unshakable  realities  of  faith,  can  be  called  belief  at  all. 
Men  are  not  bigots.    But  what  are  they?    Where  are  they? 

All  of  which  is  to  say  very  crudely  and  loosely  what  many 
competent  religious  observers  deeply  feel  and  deeply  de- 
plore. And  the  root  of  it  they  know  to  lie  in  the  loss  of 
standard,  of  thoroughness,  of  religious  competence  and  ade- 
quacy in  the  teachings  of  the  Church;  in  the  substitution  of 
ethics  for  religion;  in  the  failure  to  announce,  to  interpret, 
to  impart  these  fundamental  truths  which  from  the  first 
have  constituted  the  glory  of  the  message  of  the  Church,  its 
unique  inspiration,  the  secret  of  its  influence  and  of  its 
authority. 

In  a  word,  we  are  brought  sharply  back  to  the  creeds 
themselves.  The  times  in  which  we  live  call  not  for  their 
abandonment,  but  for  their  reintroduction.  They  have 
been  abused.  Now  is  the  time  in  which  they  should  be 
rightly  used.  They  must  not  be  used  as  tests  of  discipleship, 
but  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  they  should  not  be 
used  at  all.  And  if  they  are  to  be  used  at  all,  they  will  be 
used  first  as  a  standard  of  the  teaching  of  the  Church;  and 
second,  as  a  general  confession  of  faith  by  the  worshipping 
congregation. 

I  suppose  that  slight  hesitation,  if  any,  would  be  felt  in 
agreeing  that  for  standard  of  teaching,  the  old  historic 
Creeds — the  Apostles'  and  Nicene  Creeds — hold  and  will 
continue  to  hold  their  place.  Those  best  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  Christian  doctrine  will  probably  be  the  first 
to  maintain  this;*  for  they  will  best  understand  the  value 
of  these  ancient  symbols  for  history,  as  landmarks  in  the 
history  of  theological  thought  and  learning.    They  epitomize 

*  Hibbert  Journal,  January,  1914. 

94 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

for  us  the  otherwise  incomprehensible  story  of  Christian 
doctrine.  They  gather  up  into  themselves  the  growing 
interpretation,  in  the  light  of  the  needs  of  the  world  and  the 
thoughts  of  men,  of  the  principle  of  the  Gospel.  They  en- 
deavor to  compose  opposing  tendencies  of  thought,  and  to 
unite  apparently  antagonistic  conceptions  of  the  relation  of 
Christ  to  God  and  to  man,  or  of  the  nature  of  Christ  Him- 
self. Taken  as  documents  of  history,  and  historically 
studied  and  understood;  placing  oneself  at  the  standpoint 
of  their  framers  and  of  their  age ;  allowing  for  the  fashion  of 
thought  and  use  of  language, — they  become  not  only  noble 
monuments  of  religious  handiwork,  but  they  become  instinct 
with  spiritual  suggestion,  and  fructify  and  deepen  the 
thought  of  him  who  reverently  regards  and  uses  them. 

Yet  even  at  this  point  we  need  an  immense  reviving  of 
reverence  for  the  creeds  and  of  their  spiritual  use  by  the 
ministry  as  summaries  of  the  essential  Christianity,  pro- 
voking thought,  challenging  interpretation,  and  so  enlarg- 
ing and  enriching  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  interpreter. 
Unfortunately  we  have  swung  a  long  way  from  that.  We 
need  to  re-read  what  Carlyle  wrote  about  old  clothes  in 
order  to  understand  a  kind  of  revival  that  is  needed  of 
feeling  for  old  creeds.  Let  us  substitute  the  word  creed 
for  the  word  clothes  in  a  well-known  passage  in  Sartor 
Resartus:  "Often  have  I  turned  into  the  old  [creeds]  market 
to  worship.  With  awe-struck  heart  I  walk  through  that 
mammoth  street  as  through  a  Sanhedrin  of  stainless  ghosts. 
Silent  are  they  but  expressive  in  their  silence  of  woe  or  joy, 
passions,  virtues,  crimes  and  all  the  fathomless  good  and 
evil  in  the  prism  men  call  life.  Friends,  trust  not  the  heart 
of  that  man  for  whom  old  [creeds]  are  not  venerable.  Oh, 
let  him  in  whom  the  flame  of  devotion  is  ready  to  go  out, 
who  has  never  worshipped  and  never  known  what  it  is  to 
worship,  pace  and  re-pace  with  constant  thought  the  pave- 
ment of  [Creed]  Street  and  say  whether  his  heart  and  his 
eyes  can  be  dry." 

95 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

Such  a  revival  of  the  true  understanding  of  the  message 
of  the  historic  creeds,  and  a  fresh  incorporation  of  their 
message  in  the  teachings  of  the  Church  would  go  a  long 
way  toward  the  revivification  of  the  preaching  and  teaching 
of  the  Church.  For,  as  Rainey  has  said  in  his  Cunningham 
lecture  on  the  development  of  Christian  doctrine:  "A  high 
Christian  enthusiasm  has  usually  been  connected  with 
strong  and  decided  affirmation  of  doctrine  and  with  a  dis- 
position to  speak  it  out  even  more  fully;  that  temper  has 
been  venturesome  to  speak  even  as  it  has  been  venturesome 
to  do,  as  little  fearing  to  declare  God's  will  in  human  speech 
as  to  embody  His  will  in  human  acts.  The  framers  of  those 
old  creeds  were  fearless;  and  something  of  their  fearlessness 
imparts  itself  to  the  modern  preacher  who  knows  how  to 
use  them."  The  Apostles'  and  Nicene  Creeds,  moreover, 
are  the  fountain-head  of  all  other  derived  and  subsequent 
formulations  of  faith.  Many  creeds  have  been  written  and 
will  be  written  and  ought  to  be  written.  Every  one  of  them 
consciously  or  unconsciously  will  repose  on  these  original 
incorporations  in  human  speech  of  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ.  And  there  is  value  in  origins  which  all  who  do  not 
wholly  neglect  the  historical  perspective  well  understand. 
To  be  saturated  for  substance  of  thought  and  of  feeling  in 
these  ancient  symbols  is  to  acquire  a  richness  and  habit  of 
speech  for  which  perhaps  there  is  no  substitute.  And  spirit- 
ual substance  is  thus  unconsciously  imparted  to  the  believer. 
Faith  becomes  fundamental.*  By  the  use  of  these  historic 
confessions  by  the  teacher  of  religion,  religious  faith  no 
longer  remains  vague,  pious  sentiment  any  more  than  it 
remains  blind  obedience  to  authority:  it  becomes  something 
more  than  fugitive  opinion;  it  implies  truth  or  mature  con- 
viction, tried  and  tested.  Our  age,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not 
addicted  to  the  same  rigor  and  precision  in  religious  as  in 
scientific  reflection;  there  is  no  danger  of  excessive  articu- 

*  Hibbert  Journal,  ibid,  in  loco. 

96 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

lation  in  Christian  thought.  The  creeds  save  the  preacher 
from  the  much  more  imminent  danger  of  the  utter  opposite. 

Besides  being  used  as  a  standard  of  teaching,  there  is  the 
use  of  the  creed  as  a  general  confession  of  faith  by  the  wor- 
shipping congregation.  Historically,  liturgically,  as  a  mis- 
sionary means  for  the  propagation  of  faith,  and  from  the 
point  of  view  of  religious  psychology,  the  recitation  of  a 
confession  of  faith  has  .always  had  a  permanent  place  in  the 
service  of  worship.  It  had  such  a  place  from  the  first.  "We 
cannot  but  speak"  said  the  early  Apostles,  "the  things  that 
we  have  seen  and  heard."*  At  first  this  telling  of  the  story 
was  necessarily  spontaneous  and  individual.  But  as  the 
Church  grew  and  as  the  members  of  these  Christian  congre- 
gations came  together,  they  wanted  to  lift  up  their  voices 
in  unison  in  a  common  testimony,  in  a  general  confession  of 
their  faith.  In  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Acts  we  read  how, 
when  the  threatened  Apostles  returned  to  their  fellows,  they 
all  lifted  up  their  voices  with  one  accord,  repeating  the  glori- 
ous sentences  of  the  Second  Psalm.  This  was  the  speaking 
out  by  the  whole  congregation  of  their  faith.  And  from 
that  day  to  this  in  the  continuous  worship  of  the  Church 
the  recitation  of  its  faith  has  had  a  permanent  place.  The 
worship  of  any  Church  is  impoverished  without  it. 

Liturgically  it  is  one  of  the  most  effective  portions  of  the 
service.  Anyone  possessing  any  degree  of  devotional  temper 
and  sensitiveness  who  finds  himself  in  the  presence  of  a 
worshipping  congregation  during  the  recitation  or  singing  of 
the  Creed  must  be  moved  by  it.  The  participation  of  the 
congregation  in  the  worship,  the  lifting  of  the  worship  by 
the  congregation,  is  the  essence  of  a  true  liturgy.  And  pre- 
cisely as  the  congregation  shares  in  the  singing,  in  the  pray- 
ers, in  the  Scriptures  by  their  responsive  reading  of  it,  so  in 
the  teaching,  through  the  lifting  of  the  Creed.  It  has  also 
its  immense  missionary  value.    Christians  do  not  speak  their 

*  See  William  R.  Richards,  "The  Apostles'  Creed." 

97 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

faith  out  by  themselves  as  they  should.  But  they  have  a 
vast  opportunity  of  doing  so  in  common.  Let  a  man  strug- 
gling with  doubt  listen  to  a  congregation  confessing  its 
faith  in  the  Fatherhood  of  an  Infinite  God,  in  the  Savior- 
hood  of  Christ,  in  the  blessed  Company  of  all  faithful  people, 
in  the  Life  Everlasting,  and  it  is  an  immense  aid  to  his  faith. 
The  general  confession  of  faith  in  the  Church  is  one  of  the 
most  potent  means  for  its  general  dissemination.  Students 
of  Mohammedanism  have  not  hesitated  to  say  that  the  con- 
tinual and  universal  repetition  of  the  short,  sharp  creed  of 
Islam,  "There  is  no  God  but  Allah,  and  Mohammed  is  his 
prophet,"  has  been  an  immense  source  of  its  strength  for 
ages  and  one  of  the  deciding  factors  in  its  spread.  "Not  the 
rattle  of  Mohammedan  sabers  or  the  thunder  of  its  cavalry 
has  been  more  terrible  in  the  ears  of  its  foes  than  the  click 
of  these  words  in  the  teeth  of  Moslems."  And  Christianity 
loses  an  invaluable  aid  in  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  of 
Peace  unless  it  gives  its  congregation  the  opportunity  of 
uttering  its  faith.  It  is  the  act  of  utterance  of  good  news 
to  the  world. 

From  the  viewpoint  of  religious  psychology,  the  urgency 
is  just  as  great.  Religious  experience  gains  infinitely  by 
expression.  Confession  is  thus  an  essentially  evangelic  act. 
The  escape  of  faith  through  the  lips  engenders  it  wonder- 
fully in  the  heart.  To  suppress  feeling  is  thus  to  induce  or 
even  to  cultivate  a  kind  of  religious  stoicism,  a  confirmed 
habit  of  apathy  that  is  devitalizing.  But  let  a  congregation 
through  the  call  to  worship,  the  hymns,  the  Scriptures,  first 
be  lifted  to  a  level  of  religious  thought  and  feeling  and  then 
be  given  the  opportunity  to  utter  the  faith  felt,  and  some- 
thing real  has  been  done  for  it.  There  are  religious  emo- 
tions which  so  burden  and  oppress  the  heart,  and  others 
which  so  exalt  and  inspire,  that  they  must  have  expression. 
To  stifle  them  is  a  wrong  and  harm  to  the  religious  nature. 
To  give  them  vent  is  to  aid  and  cultivate  the  religious  expe- 
rience. 

98 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Suppose  it  be  admitted,  then,  that  the  use  of  some  creed, 
some  general  confession  of  faith  by  the  congregation,  should 
be  an  integral  part  of  its  worship.  The  question  remains, 
What  creed  shall  be  used?  Here  we  are  confronted  at  once 
by  the  historical  fact  that  only  one  Creed  has  been  used  by 
the  Western  Church  for  this  purpose  all  through  its  history. 
The  Apostles'  Creed  has  been  its  confession  of  faith.  The 
Nicene  Creed  has  been  the  creed  of  the  Eastern  Church,  and 
is  used  in  the  celebration  of  the  Communion  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  and  the  Church  of  England  in  its  various 
branches.  But  the  Apostles'  Creed  has  been  the  confession 
in  its  church  services  of  the  Western  Church  for  fifteen  hun- 
dred years.  And  the  abandonment,  in  certain  Churches,  of 
the  inclusion  of  any  creed  in  the  service,  has  been  due  to  a 
general  feeling  that  this  Creed  no  longer  can  be  used  without 
affront  to  the  intelligence  and  conscience  of  modern  men, 
and  that  no  satisfactory  substitute  for  it  has  as  yet  been 
evolved. 

Few  will,  I  think,  question  the  truth  of  that  last  state- 
ment. How  utterly  unsatisfying  the  so-called  modern  sub- 
stitutes are  for  the  ancient  Creed  even  the  most  radical  of 
us,  the  ones  least  inclined  to  medievalism  or  even  mysticism 
or  symbolism  in  any  form,  are  the  first  to  admit.  Better 
nothing  at  all  than  this  parade  of  up-to-date  sentiments 
which  masquerade  in  the  place  of  a  creed;  this  elimination 
from  the  Creed  of  what  are  felt  to  be  its  intolerable  parts, 
leaving  only  the  skeleton  to  be  exhibited  before  a  congre- 
gation; this  total  lack  of  any  appeal  to  the  emotions  or 
spiritual  imagination;  this  unedifying  recitation  of  modern 
prose  in  place  of  the  poetry  of  the  ages  and  of  the  human 
heart.  These  so-called  creeds  are  mere  specters  of  ethical 
statement  with  neither  outer  beauty  nor  inner  substance. 
They  are  in  effect  a  summary  of  opinions  rather  than  a  creed. 
The  thing  has  been  tried,  the  thing  is  being  tried,  but  it 
simply  does  nothing.  It  gets  nowhere.  It  fails  utterly  to 
appeal,  to  lift,  to  satisfy,  to  do  the  work.    The  fact  is,  it  is 

99 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

either  the  old  Creed  or  no  creed  at  all.  Some  may  question 
this,  but  really  there  is  no  question  about  it. 

All  of  us,  also,  who  have  any  reverence  for  the  past,  any 
sense  of  historical  perspective,  any  gratitude  for  the  posses- 
sion of  common  religious  property  in  the  midst  of  our  divided 
and  distracted  ecclesiastical  world,  feel  a  certain  reluctance 
to  part  with  the  use  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  as  a  continuing 
and  living  element  in  the  life  of  the  Church.  We  all  feel 
its  worth  as  one  of  the  few  really  great  symbols  which  have 
come  down  through  the  ages,  binding  age  to  age,  and  serving 
to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Christian  faith  in  the  various 
transformations  it  has  undergone  in  the  broadening  thought 
of  men.  We  all  feel  its  immense  importance  as  a  common, 
unifying  expression  of  faith  for  the  whole  Church  of  Christ, 
serving  to  link  the  smallest  chapel  in  the  least  of  the  denomi- 
nations, even  with  the  Church  of  Rome  from  which  it  seems 
so  separate,  and  to  signalize  to  the  world  that  it  is  one  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism.  It  remains  today  with,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  only  expression  of  faith  in  which  all  Christians 
everywhere  can  and  do  unite.  We  all  feel  its  spiritual 
appeal.  No  one  can  say  it  or  hear  it  said  without  having 
deep  spiritual  emotions  roused  even  by  the  sound  of  its 
familiar  and  wonderful  words,  which  produce  the  purest  of 
our  spiritual  experiences. 

Not  one  of  these  considerations,  however,  or  all  of  them 
together,  can  save  the  Creed  for  practical  use  in  our  Churches 
if  it  is  true,  upon  the  most  careful  and  searching  analysis, 
that  it  puts  a  premium  upon  insincerity  or  hypocrisy,  that 
it  flouts  plain  intelligence,  indulges  in  double-dealing,  en- 
courages vagueness  and  sentimentality  in  religious  belief, 
emphasizes  negligible  aspects  of  faith  above  those  that  are 
paramount,  and  thus  tends  to  undermine  a  sane  and  thorough 
religious  education  and  discipline.    The  question  is,  does  it? 

Here  it  ought  to  be  said  at  once  and  frankly  that  a  creed, 
any  creed,  worthy  of  being  used  in  a  corporate  way,  as  an 
act  of  fellowship  with  the  past,  with  the  future,  and  with 

ioo 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

differing  degrees  of  Christian  experience  in  the  present,  will 
contain,  ought  to  contain,  at  least  something  which  may 
not  correspond  to  the  immediate  experience  of  every  indi- 
vidual in  that  fellowship.  Is  this  age  the  whole  of  the 
world?  On  the  contrary  it  is  so  small  a  part  of  it  that  what 
we  call  a  century  would  make  no  appreciable  bend  in  the 
great  sweep  of  the  eternal  curve.  Shall  we  say  that  because 
we  do  not  understand  a  truth,  therefore  it  is  not  true?  Shall 
we  deny  to  our  children  what  we  happen  not  to  want  our- 
selves? Shall  we  have  a  new  creed  with  each  succeeding 
generation?  Or  shall  we  have  a  separate  creed  for  each 
person  in  a  given  generation?  Now  no  one  surely  ought  to 
say  what  he  does  not  believe.  But  neither  ought  he  to  deny 
the  privilege  of  permitting  other  people  to  say  what  they 
do  believe.  The  Creed,  in  a  word,*  "is  a  corporate  and  not 
an  individual  product."  It  is  "the  outcome  of  an  expe- 
rience that  is  greater  than  any  individual,  the  experience  of 
a  corporate  fellowship  in  Christ.  An  individual  Christian 
may  very  properly  approach  the  Creed  with  the  conviction 
that  it  carries  with  it  elements  of  a  religious  and  Christian 
experience  that  may  go  beyond  his  own  capacity  to  assimi- 
late. ...  In  scientific  and  political  matters  we  constantly 
live  in  reliance  on  such  a  wider  experience.  May  not  the 
individual  Christian  expressing  his  loyalty  to  Christ  and  to 
the  fellowship  that  comes  from  Him  naturally  expect  to 
find  in  the  Creed  which  is  the  outcome  of  that  fellowship, 
elements  that  go  beyond  his  own  experience?"  Would  it  be 
the  kind  of  a  creed  that  he  really  needed  if  it  did  not?  Do 
we  want  a  creed  no  higher  than  our  heads?  Or  higher  than 
our  heads  are  now?  Or  higher  than  anybody's  head  now  is? 
Has  not  every  one  of  us  had  the  experience  of  growing  into 
comprehension  and  affection  and  use  of  Christian  ideas  that 
once  were  wholly  strange  and  even  forbidding?  Bushnell 
once  wrote  these  words  :f  "The  most  fructifying  writer  I 

*  Edward  S.  Drown,  "The  Apostles'  Creed  Today,"  pp.  68,  69. 
t  "God  in  Christ,"  p.  87. 

IOI 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

ever  read  was  one  in  whom  I  was  at  first  able  only  to  see 
glimpses  or  gleams  of  truth;  one  whom  it  required  years  of 
study  and  reflection,  of  patient  suspension  and  laborious 
self-questioning,  to  be  able  fully  to  understand ;  and,  indeed, 
whom  I  never  since  have  read  at  all,  save  in  a  chapter  or 
two  which  I  glanced  over  just  to  see  how  obvious  and  clear 
what  before  was  impossible  had  now  become."  And  what  is 
the  most  fructifying  creed?  One  that  is  immediately  and  to 
everyone  entirely  comprehensible?  What  everyone  can 
catch  off  the  bat  and  hold?  Or  one  that  does  offer  a  future 
of  study,  meditation,  patient  suspension  of  judgment  and 
laborious  self-questioning? 

We  come,  however,  to  the  center  of  the  difficulty  which 
many  feel  with  respect  to  using  the  language  of  the  Creed. 
Can  they  use  it  literally?  And  if  not,  can  they  use  it  hon- 
estly? One  needs  in  this  connection  to  remember  the  pur- 
pose of  the  Creed.  And,  whatever  its  origin,  that  purpose 
we  know  to  be  the  provision  for  the  worshipper  of  a  confes- 
sion of  his  personal  commitment  to  God  and  to  Christ.  The 
reader  is  referred  for  an  able  elaboration  of  this  funda- 
mental idea  to  the  discussion  of*  Dr.  Drown  and  of  Dr. 
Johnston-Ross.  The  point  to  be  remembered  is  that  the 
Creed  is  not  so  much  the  definition  of  philosophy  as  it  is  the 
expression  of  a  Life.  "In  the  definition  of  philosophy  we 
must  change  our  expression  as  often  as  we  change  our 
philosophy.  But  in  expressing  a  Life  we  may  rightly  use  as 
our  own,  expressions  which  past  ages  have  framed  to  express 
a  Life  which  is  theirs  as  well  as  ours.  If  this  Creed  were 
the  definition  of  a  philosophy  one  might  perhaps  condemn 
one  who  denied  the  philosophy  but  continued  the  phrase- 
ology. But  since  it  is  the  expression  of  a  Life,  then  no  one 
truly  rejects  this  Creed  unless  he  disowns  the  Life  of  which 
it  is  perhaps  an  archaic  but  certainly  a  beautiful  and  a 
sacred  expression.    "I  [therefore]  join,"  Lyman  Abbott  has 

♦Edward  S.  Drown,  "The  Apostles'  Creed  Today,"  pp.  65-68; 
G.  A.  Johnston-Ross,  "The  God  We  Trust,"  pp.  18-19. 

102 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

written,  "in  reciting  the  Apostles'  Creed  without  hesitation. 
In  the  cathedral  service  this  Creed  is  sung,  not  recited,  and 
this  fact  justifies  my  understanding  that  the  Church  regards 
this  recital  as  an  act  of  worship,  not  as  a  definition  of  the- 
ology. As  in  all  acts  of  worship,  as  in  all  emotional  utter- 
ances, the  phrases  are  of  necessity  inexact,  and  they  inter- 
pret differing  though  not  inconsistent  conditions  of  thought 
and  feeling  in  different  worshippers.  Worship  is  feeling,  and 
feeling  can  never  be  accurately  defined." 

We  have  here  the  hint  of  the  basis  for  a  justification  of 
the  symbolic  interpretation  of  certain  articles  in  the  Creed. 
Against  this,  a  recent  writer,  Dr.  Hocking,  has  vigorously 
protested.*  "Organized  religion,"  he  has  declared,  "has 
done  itself  much  injustice  by  an  overindulgence  of  the  anti- 
quarian temper  in  regard  to  religious  language.  .  .  .  Noth- 
ing can  excuse  a  willing  obscuration  of  possible  literalities 
by  figures  of  speech,  or  a  veiling  of  actual  issues  in  the  haze 
of  romantic  distances.  The  Church  has  an  infinite  concern 
in  metaphysics;  and  the  only  persons  fit  to  act  as  teachers 
of  religion  are  men  who  have  metaphysical  convictions  and 
are  capable  of  'agonized  consciences'  over  questions  of  truth 
and  error.  If  the  Church  were  put  to  the  awkward  choice 
of  excommunicating  either  its  heretics  or  else  those  priests 
who  are  willing  to  take  their  creed  in  a  sense  primarily  his- 
torical, psychological,  figurative,  pragmatic,  or  diplomatic, 
it  would  far  better  preserve  those  heretics  and  purge  itself 
of  those  priests  .  .  .  who  wish  to  flatter  it  by  a  Platonic 
adherence  for  sentimental  or  aesthetic  gratification — the 
religious  philanderers  of  the  day." 

If  what  Dr.  Hocking  means  in  this  remarkable  paragraph 
(in  which,  by  the  way,  the  creed  is  still  regarded  as  pure 
metaphysics)  is  that  religious  language  must  always  be  used 
in  what  he  calls  sheer  literalness,  then  I  appeal  from  him  to 
an  even  profounder  intellect  and  an  even  more  influential 
religious  teacher.    I  would  commend  to  him  and  to  all  who 

*  Atlantic  Monthly,  September,  1918,  p.  384. 

103 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

are  inclined  to  agree  with  him  a  reading,  a  re-reading,  of 
Horace  Bushnell's  remarkable  Dissertation  on  Language,  in 
his  famous  volume,  "God  in  Christ."  As  you  will  remember, 
the  thesis  of  that  treatise  is  that  all  words  are  symbols,  and 
necessarily  inadequate  symbols;  that  it  is  a  profound  mis- 
take to  accept  words  not  as  signs  and  images  but  as  abso- 
lute measures  and  equivalents  of  truth;  that  the  higher  one 
goes  in  human  experience,  the  more  inadequate  words  be- 
come to  express  the  reality  of  which  they  are  but  the 
symbol: 

"My  dark  and  cloudy  words,  they  do  but  hold 
The  truth,  as  cabinets  enclose  the  gold"; 

that  the  language  of  the  Bible,  the  language  of  Christian 
doctrine,  as  well  as  the  language  of  the  creeds,  are  full  of 
words  which  not  by  their  literalities  but  by  what  they  point 
to  as  signs  and  symbols,  seek  to  express  the  realities  for 
which  they  stand;  that  religion  has  a  natural  and  a  pro- 
found alliance  with  poetry;  that  all  religious  language  car- 
ries in  its  bosom  some  flavor  of  meaning  or  import  derived 
from  all  the  past  generations  that  have  lived  in  it;  that  lan- 
guage is  rather  an  instrument  of  suggestion  than  of  absolute 
conveyance  of  thought;  that  it  is  incapable  of  such  definite 
and  determinate  use  as  we  have  supposed  it  to  be  in  our 
theological  speculations;  that  there  is,  in  a  word,  a  mystic 
element  in  language  and  also  in  the  views  of  Christian  life 
and  doctrine  that  follow;  that  we  need  the  mystic  temper 
to  use  language  aright;  that  a  mystic  is  one  who  finds  a 
secret  meaning  both  in  words  and  things  back  of  their  com- 
mon or  accepted  meaning,  some  agency  of  Life  or  Living 
Thought  hid  under  the  form  of  words  and  institutions  and 
historical  events ;  that  in  opposition  to  one-sided  intellectual- 
ism  we  need  mysticism  adequately  and  truly  to  understand 
religious  realities,  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  written 
word, — this  is  the  thesis  set  up  and  defended  by  Dr.  Bush- 
nell  with  surpassing  force  and  eloquence.    A  comprehension 

104 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

of  this  truth  makes  the  priest  who  prides  himself  on  his 
literalism  the  one  of  whom  the  Church  really  needs  to  purge 
itself;  makes  the  literalist  the  real  enemy  of  the  truth; 
makes  the  man  who  insists  on  taking  his  creed  'literally' 
the  one  who  truly  does  it  violence;  makes  the  'literal'  inter- 
pretation the  one  which  falls  short  of  the  truth.  Since  the 
Creed  is  not  metaphysics  but  Life,  and  since  the  language 
of  the  Creed  is  a  sign  to  reality  and  not  the  adequate  and 
complete  expression  of  it,  the  spiritual  truth  enshrined  within 
it  is  one  which  must  be  from  age  to  age  spiritually  and  even 
mystically  discerned.  As  Bushnell  says,  it  is  the  absence 
and  not  the  presence  of  this  mystical  temper  which  has  done 
the  real  damage  to  religion.  Thus  each  man  is  not  only  war- 
ranted, he  is  compelled  to  his  own  interpretation  of  the 
common  Creed.  There  will  necessarily  be  as  many  interpre- 
tations as  there  are  interpreters;  to  every  man  according  to 
his  faith.  "Words  are  feeble  indications  of  spiritual  things — 
yet  words  forever  bubble  up  as  a  sign  of  the  movement  in 
the  deep  waters.  Some  of  these  are  caught  and  fixed  as 
standards  of  suggestion  adapted  to  verbal  representations  of 
faith,  and  become  to  the  Church  media  of  the  preservation 
of  faith  and  tokens  of  fellowship,  but  not  perfect  or  magical 
or  final.  It  is  the  ecclesiastical  language  of  one  age  passed 
on  to  the  next  and  again  passed  on,  thus  taking  to  itself  new 
meanings  without  any  revision  of  its  actual  language.  The 
creed  is  mystic  in  essence,  conceived  in  symbolism,  imbued 
with  poetry,  and  it  is  practically  and  equivalently  rather  than 
mathematically  and  verbally  adequate."  Thus  the  phrase 
"conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary" 
does  'mean'  the  virgin  birth  of  Jesus.  The  question  is,  is 
that  all  that  it  'means'?  Plainly  not.  If  there  had  not 
been  the  larger  meaning  of  the  unique  soul  and  nature  of 
Christ,  there  never  would  have  been  any  mention  of  His 
unique  birth.  The  latter  is  the  sign  or  symbol  of  the 
former;  and  with  utter  consistency  one  may  use  words  for 
what  they  imply  or  include,  as  well  as  for  what  they  in  black 

105 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

and  white  express.  This  is  not  evading  the  physiological 
reference;  it  is  tracing  it  to  its  roots,  giving  it  its  religious 
value.  Similarly  the  phrase  "He  descended  into  hell"  says 
or  'means'  more  than  that  in  the  belief  of  early  thinkers 
or  writers  Christ  visibly  descended  into  the  place  of  departed 
spirits.  It  'meant'  more  than  that  when  the  words  were 
first  used.  It  'meant'  that  for  our  sakes  Christ  descended 
to  the  lowest  depths  of  our  humiliation.  It  'meant'  that  a 
soul  cannot  sink  so  low  that  Christ  will  not  be  found  be- 
neath him.  It  'meant'  that  redemption  reaches  to  the  nether- 
most moral  depths  of  human  degradation.  And  it  'means' 
that  today.*  The  creed,  it  must  be  repeated,  "has  its  impor- 
tance for  the  Christian  life  not  because  it  expresses  accuracy 
of  theological  statement,  but  because  it  expresses  a  living 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  revelation  of  God  that  comes 
through  Him.  To  approach  it  as  a  matter  of  intellectual 
statement  is  radically  to  misinterpret  the  historic  character 
of  the  creed,  and  radically  to  misunderstand  its  value  for  us 
today."  What  does  the  phrase  "the  resurrection  of  the 
body"  'mean'?  Even  for  those  to  whom  it  'meant'  the 
resurrection  of  the  flesh,  it  'meant'  also  more  than  that. 
It  'meant'  what  St.  Paul  'meant'  by  a  heavenly  body.  It 
'meant'  what  we  'mean'  by  the  preservation  of  personality, 
the  survival  of  identity,  the  fact  of  recognition ;  the  opposite, 
that  is,  of  vague,  impersonal  and  unrecognizable  soul  that 
makes  personal  immortality  such  a  pale,  flaccid,  colorless 
and  even  forbidding  fact.  The  word  "body"  gives  body  to 
the  idea  of  personal  survival,  and  lends  it  the  one  thing 
needful,  the  essentially  Christian  idea  of  the  possession 
after  death  of  the  distinctive  and  recognizable  characteristics 
of  personality.  This  is  not  to  toy  with  language;  it  is  to 
know  how  to  use  language  that  admittedly  is  neither  philo- 
sophically or  mathematically  exact.    The  creed,  in  a  word, 

*W.  E.  Orchard,  "The  Outlook  for  Religion,"  p.  197.  "No  hell 
into  which  a  man  may  fall  places  him  beyond  the  compassion  and 
power  of  that  tireless,  unflinching  love." 

106 


CREED  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

is  a  Catholic  sign,  not  a  theological  trap.  "You  are  not  to 
pick  out  with  pinchers  of  the  inquisition  a  clause  here  and 
there;  to  hold  it  up  before  some  cleric  or  priest,  to  exact 
from  him  some  straight  conventional  assent,  or,  if  he  fails, 
pin  him  to  the  wall  and  say,  'Now  we  have  you.'  "  We  may 
with  perfect  sincerity  repeat  the  Creed  with  its  implications 
of  mystery  and  miracle  as  the  essence  for  Christian  belief  as 
a  body,  rather  than  as  the  scientific  expression  of  an  indi- 
vidual present  opinion.  Thus  one  possesses  continuity  in 
every  age,  and  in  so  doing  one  worships  "in  truth." 

From  this  point  of  view,  the  rejection  of  the  Creed  from 
the  worship  of  the  Churches  points  to  an  outstanding  and 
even  fatal  weakness  for  which  an  immediate  corrective  is 
needed.  Too  many  Churches  are  intellectually  one-sided. 
They  lack  historical  perspective,  any  bond  of  union  with 
the  past;  they  lack  the  mystical  temper  which  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  religion  and  in  search  of  which  multitudes  have 
gone  wandering  in  the  fields  of  theosophy,  thought-culture, 
oriental  mysteries,  and  the  debilitating  idiosyncrasies  of 
Eddyism.  Why  is  it,  Dr.  Orchard  has  asked,  that  the 
Churches*  "have  not  only  divided  the  Body  of  Christ,  but 
have  also  divided  the  soul  of  man?  If  one  sets  out  in  this 
modern  world  to  find  a  Church  which  shall  provide  real 
spiritual  fellowship,  one  soon  discovers  that  in  every  Church 
that  exists  we  can  have  freedom  or  authority,  mysticism  or 
rationalism,  the  supernatural  or  the  natural,  liturgical  or 
free  prayer,  ...  a  worship  dominated  by  awe  or  a  public 
meeting;  whereas  a  human  being  wants  all  these  things  at 
one  time  or  another.  But  no,  I  must  take  my  choice.  If  I 
have  one,  I  cannot  have  the  other;  I  must  join  a  denomina- 
tion which  feeds  only  half  my  nature  and  denies  that  the 
other  exists,  find  my  fellowship  with  people  that  have  only 
one  eye,  make  the  rest  of  my  spiritual  pilgrimage  on  one 
leg."  Who  can  doubt  what  the  other  half  nature,  the  other 
eye,  the  other  leg,  of  our  intellectualized,  rational,  modern- 

*W.  E.  Orchard,  op.  cit.,  p.  264. 

107 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

ized  and  wholly  down-to-date  Churches  and  Church  services 
really  is?  For  a  recovery  of  this  mystical  temper  and 
appeal,  for  a  reintroduction  into  the  service  of  the  Church 
of  this  note  which  makes  itself  felt  in  a  realm  beneath  that 
of  mind  or  intellect,  no  means  lies  so  ready  to  hand  or  proves 
so  effective  as  the  use  of  the  ancient  Creeds.  The  batteries 
of  a  scientific  criticism  may  riddle  them,  but  no  criticism  can 
detract  from  their  enduring  worth  so  long  as  they  are  the 
universal  symbol  of  a  faith  which  gives  to  the  soul  an  assur- 
ance of  a  moral  universe  which  justifies  noble  conduct  and 
excites  pure  and  unselfish  emotion.  They  can  be  but  the 
symbols  and  signs  of  unutterable  things.  They  stand  for 
the  mysteries  of  life  which  no  man  can  express.  We  have 
had  put  into  our  hands  these  ancient  symbols  which  in  count- 
less struggles  have  been  the  watchword  of  faith;  they  are  as 
steeped  in  religious  sentiment  as  old  violins  are  steeped  in 
harmony.  They  convey  the  piety  of  the  ages  to  the  use  of 
each  separate  human  believer;  they  carry  into  the  mind 
suggestions  that  are  indefinable.  And  in  the  largest  possible 
interpretation  of  the  Church's  mission  and  destiny,  these 
symbols  will  remain  the  messengers  of  the  divine  spirit  to  the 
souls  of  men.  "Most  sure  am  I  that  no  spectacle  more 
sublime,  or  more  truly  pleasing  to  God,  will  ever  be  wit- 
nessed on  earth  than  if  taking  up  this  holy  confession,  sanc- 
tified by  the  faith  and  consecrated  by  the  uses  of  so  many 
ages,  all  the  disciples  of  Jesus  on  earth  may  be  heard  answer- 
ing it  together,  sect  to  sect,  and  people  to  people,  and  rolling 
it  as  a  hymn  of  love  and  brotherhood  round  the  world."* 

*  Bushnell,  "God  in  Christ,"  p.  356. 


108 


VI 
CONCERNING  UNITY 

IF  there  is  any  one  thing  for  which  I  have  a  passion,  it  is 
for  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  accordance  with  the 
mind  of  Christ.  Just  what  outward  form  this  unity 
will  take  I  do  not  know.  Part  of  its  wealth  and  power  will 
consist  in  its  gardenlike  variety.  There  will  be  no  toleration 
in  it,  for  toleration  is  not  a  virtue.  Toleration  is  a  phase  of 
arrogance — arrogance  clad  in  garments  of  humility.  The 
only  legitimate  toleration  is  to  suffer  fools  gladly. 

In  the  diversity  of  Christ's  unity,  those  who  differ  will 
each  one  demand  for  his  brother  that  liberty  which  he 
demands  for  himself  in  matters  which  must  be  speculative. 
The  effort  will  be  in  the  direction  of  mutual,  sympathetic 
understanding  and  not  that  of  antagonism,  controversy  and 
dialectic  victory.  Life  in  the  Church  will  not  be  a  mere 
modus  vivendi  but  an  interchange  and  blending  of  privileges 
granted  by  her  charter  of  liberty. 

Of  course  I  am  speaking  only  of  and  for  Christians,  that 
is  to  say,  those  who  unreservedly  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  God 
made  man.  There  are  doubtless  other  unities  but  I  am  con- 
cerned here  only  with  Christian  unity.  If  there  are  those 
who  choose  to  group  around  some  other  center  or  person 
than  Christ,  God  and  Man,  we  have  no  desire  to  say  them 
nay  or  to  interfere  with  their  project.  Neither  have  they 
reason  to  complain  if  we  refuse  to  abandon  our  unifying 
center  in  order  to  include  them. 

Again,  it  would  not  be  gain  to  aim  at  oneness  as  an  end 
in  itself.    Mere  oneness  would  be  a  sort  of  saccharine  monot- 

109 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

ony  in  which  differences  would  not  have  been  reconciled  but 
rather  smothered  and  hidden  under  a  thick  coat  of  senti- 
mentality. Unity,  as  I  understand  it,  will  come  as  the  result 
of  whole-hearted  devotion  to  a  common  center,  a  common 
vision  and  a  common  purpose.  We  do  not  seek  for  unity  in 
order  to  come  to  Christ,  but  in  coming  to  Christ  we  are 
thereby  committed  to  unity  according  to  His  mind,  and  if  we 
fail  to  find  unity  we  have  missed  the  way. 

Experience  has  taught  me  that  what  is  needed  for  a  long 
time  to  come  is  unsuspicious,  friendly  personal  touch  be- 
tween Christian  leaders  of  every  opinion,  not  in  order  that 
they  may  have  joint  services  or  force  outward  ecclesiastical 
unity,  but  that  they  may  come  to  understand  one  another  by 
the  only  process  that  can  create  mutual  understanding.  I 
mean  by  human  fellowship  and  interchange  of  living  thought 
for  which  even  friendly  books  are  no  substitute.  Christian 
unity,  which  is  a  thing  of  the  Spirit  and  is  founded  on 
Christ's  twofold  law  of  love,  comes  first,  antedating  ecclesi- 
astical unity,  in  which  unity  of  worship  is  a  necessary  climax. 
It  is  dangerous  to  confuse  the  manufacture  of  joint  services 
for  the  sake  of  their  being  joint,  with  unity. 

One  further  thing.  It  was  largely  through  fiery  preaching 
that  the  Christian  Church  was  rent.  It  will  have  to  be  by 
equally  fiery  preaching  that  the  Church  will  find  her  unity. 
The  preacher  of  today  has  a  unifying  opportunity  never 
afforded  his  forbears  of  the  pulpit. 

On  my  homeward  voyage  with  a  gallant  Division  of  the 
A.  E.  F.,  a  dinner  was  given  the  Commanding  General  at 
which  the  presiding  officer  asked  me  to  speak.  He  assigned 
me  a  subject.  In  introducing  me  he  said — he  was  a  Protes- 
tant— that  we  were  returning  from  a  land  where  every  town 
or  village  had  but  one  spire  proclaiming  that  there  was  but 
one  Church  for  all.  To  the  layman  that  seemed  the  only 
Christian  state  of  affairs.  On  the  background  of  this 
memory,  I  was  asked  to  address  our  soldier  citizens  on  unity 
in  our  own  land.    Many  laymen  today  applaud  every  move 

no 


CONCERNING  UNITY 

in  the  direction  of  unity,  be  it  intelligent  or  unintelligent, 
because  they  intuitively  and  rightly  feel  that  a  divided 
Church  is  not  only  an  economic  absurdity  but  also  a  funda- 
mental disloyalty  to  Christ.  They  recognize  that  unity  is  as 
much  an  essential  of  the  Church  as  of  the  government  of 
the  land.  It  does  not  need  extraordinary  powers  of  percep- 
tion to  reach  this  conclusion.  Moreover,  it  does  not  require 
any  argument  to  convince  men  intellectually  that  the  chief 
hindrance  to  Christianity  as  a  social  force  is  its  disunity. 
We  all  agree  that  the  status  quo  is  lamentable.  But  when 
the  question  of  faith  and  order  is  broached  men  make  them- 
selves ready  to  battle.  As  to  faith,  it  comes  first;  afterward, 
the  protective  order  that  insures  to  faith  its  highest  oppor- 
tunity and  its  perpetuation.  Principles  precede  the  govern- 
ment which  embodies  them. 

Perhaps  our  earliest  duty  is  to  sort  out  fundamentals 
from  matters  of  indifference  or  second  value.  I  come  back 
from  war  service  abroad,  where  men  were  unified  by  a  com- 
mon purpose,  to  find  that,  in  the  churches  here,  there  are 
battles  going  on  that  look  to  me  as  important  as  the  con- 
troversy which  once  raged  over  the  number  of  angels  that 
could  stand  on  the  point  of  a  needle.  When  Christ  first 
came  He  came  to  simplify  religion  and  to  separate  the  tith- 
ing of  anise  and  cummin  from  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
law.    The  process  needs  repetition  now. 

So  far  as  practical  schemes  for  the  promotion  of  unity  are 
concerned,  it  needs  a  bold  and  convinced  man  to  condemn 
any  one  of  them  without  at  the  same  moment  presenting  a 
superior  plan.  This  is  so  of  the  proposed  concordat  be- 
tween Congregationalists  and  Episcopalians.  It  may  require 
modification  or  even  radical  change,  but,  as  it  stands,  it 
reveals  a  temper  of  mind  and  a  mutual  understanding 
seldom  exhibited  by  any  considerable  group  of  men. 

It  is  encouraging  to  find  that  we  are  moving  away  from 
that  form  of  prejudice  which  condemns  a  doctrine  or  usage 
because  it  is  embedded  in  a  system  with  which  we  are  at 

in 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

odds.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  "free  Catholicism"  which 
studies  such  matters  on  their  merits.  As  a  result  there  are 
Protestants  in  faith  and  order  who  are  deliberately  and  intel- 
ligently appropriating,  as  part  of  their  belief  and  worship, 
doctrines  and  usages  which  formerly  they  would  have  con- 
demned ex  amino  without  giving  them  a  hearing. 

What  I  have  written  represents  conclusions  reached  after 
years  of  honest  struggle  to  see  and  embrace  the  truth.  I 
have  come  to  think  as  a  habit  not  in  terms  of  disunion,  but 
in  terms  of  that  unity  that  is  clear  to  the  mind  of  Christ 
though  but  dimly  to  me,  a  unity  to  which  I  am  irrevocably 
committed  and  which  I  pray  God  I  may  be  permitted  to  see 
some  day  in  all  its  splendor  and  power. 

C.  H.  Brent. 

July  14,  1919- 


112 


VII 

SOME  HISTORICAL  MATERIALS 
FOR  PRESENT  USES 

i.     CONFERENCES  BETWEEN  ROMAN  CATH- 
OLICS AND  PROTESTANTS  IN  THE 
SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

a.    THE  CONFERENCE  AT  THORN,  1645 

WLADISLAV  IV,  king  of  Poland,  was  reigning  in 
1643  in  fortunate  peace  while  other  lands  were 
torn  with  the  conflicts  of  the  thirty  years'  war. 
He  earnestly  desired  to  make  a  religious  peace  also  through- 
out his  dominions.  For  this  end  he  sought  through  his  prel- 
ates to  gather  representatives  of  the  different  churches 
together  for  conference  over  their  differences.  His  first  at- 
tempt having  failed  in  1643,  ne  issued  later  himself  a  royal 
invitation  for  such  a  conference  at  Thorn.  In  response  to 
his  letter  deputations  representing  Catholics,  Lutherans, 
and  Reformed  met  together  at  Thorn  in  the  year  1645. 
Full  reports  of  their  sessions  and  discussions  have  been  pre- 
served. They  contain  much  that  is  interesting  and  good 
reading  also  for  present  occasions.  We  give  only  the  fol- 
lowing summary  account  of  some  things  said  and  done  there. 
The  King,  in  his  letter  of  invitation  to  the  conference, 
after  referring  to  the  devastations  caused  by  the  war,  wrote: 

We  may  now  turn  our  eyes  from  the  pleasantness  of  tem- 
poral peace  to  the  inner  peace  of  minds,  which  the  divine 
love  works,  and  in  which  the  honor  of  God,  the  salvation  of 

113 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

souls,  and  the  honor  of  the  name  of  Christians  consists.  .  .  . 
It  is  now  generally  known  that  the  bloody  hate  of  Christen- 
dom, for  the  amelioration  of  which  human  wisdom  can  dis- 
cover no  means,  which  daily  grows  worse  and  worse,  flows 
from  no  other  source  than  the  disunity  of  religion. 

As  a  means  for  the  attainment  of  religious  peace  he 
thought  that  personal  conference  was  desirable  rather  than 
learned  writings,  for,  he  said,  "nature  has  given  to  mortals 
no  more  precious  gift  than  living  speech,  wherein  mouth  to 
mouth  and  voice  to  voice  respond,  and,  if  words  fail,  the 
quiet  reading  in  the  eye  and  upon  the  forehead  of  another 
the  truth  of  his  perceptions  and  the  honorableness  of  his 
feelings  can  be  discerned." 

From  the  address  of  the  King's  Commissioner  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  conference,  these  extracts  are  pertinent  to  any 
discussions  of  Church  unity. 

"The  first  thing  which  we  deem  especially  important  is  a 
mutual  liquidation  of  the  conflicting  church  usages,  since 
we  have  well  learned  that  the  chief  cause  of  lamentable 
fallings  apart  is  to  be  found  in  mutual  misunderstandings. 
For  first  we  have  not  to  deal  with  this,  whether  one  or  the 
other  party  rightly  believes,  but  only  what  one  believes." 
He  urged  each  side  to  express  its  opinions  concerning  the 
teachings  in  question  "in  brief,  simple  and  clear  sen- 
tences. ...  It  should  all  be  made  clear  as  the  noonday 
what  each  side  really  taught,  and  what  was  falsely  attributed 
to  it  as  its  teaching."  He  reminded  them  that  throughout 
his  address  he  had  carefully  avoided  the  current  word  "dis- 
putation,"— an  example  well  worthy  of  our  imitation.  He 
observed  that  "they  had  learned  through  the  experience  of 
a  century  that  religious  controversies  are  hard  to  end  be- 
cause there  is  no  one  living  to  act  and  judge,  who  can  be 
heard,  and  in  whose  decision  one  may  rest."  Urging  them 
to  free  and  brotherly  discussion  he  continued:  "Only  this 
way  to  peace  stands  still  open.  If  we  attain  nothing  in  this 
way,  then  it  must  be  said  that  Christ  left  no  means  whereby 
brothers  may  come  back  to  unity,  although  they  may  warmly 

114 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

desire  it;  and  that  would  be  to  affirm  what  is  most  prepos- 
terous and  shameful  for  the  Christian  religion,  and  a  griev- 
ous offense  to  Christ,  who  is  king  of  kings." 

It  was  inauspicious  for  the  results  of  this  conference  that 
the  several  parties  in  it  could  not  at  the  first  session  come  to 
any  agreement  as  to  how  they  might  pray  all  together.  In 
subsequent  sessions  each  party  presented  in  turn  statements 
of  its  positions.  The  conferences  became  more  and  more  a 
series  of  attacks  and  counterattacks  between  the  advocates 
of  the  different  positions,  the  Roman  Catholics  maintaining 
that  they  should  not  be  judged  by  the  alleged  consequences 
of  their  doctrines,  while  the  Protestants  contended  that  they 
could  not  fully  declare  their  beliefs  positively  without  also 
setting  them  over  against  the  negations  of  the  other  side. 
The  King's  hopes  of  their  coming  to  an  agreement  gradually 
ended  in  disappointment,  as  the  conference  drifted  upon  the 
shoals  and  conflicting  currents  of  more  superficial  discus- 
sions concerning  their  oppositions,  each  speaker  refuting  the 
errors  imputed  to  him  by  the  others.  How  often  since,  by 
their  positive  Christian  affirmations,  churchmen  might  have 
been  united,  but  by  their  negations  of  each  other's  positions 
they  have  been  divided.  After  three  months  of  discussion 
without  reaching  agreement,  the  conference  was  dissolved 
by  the  King's  order.  The  Protestant  theologians  thanked 
the  Catholic  bishops  for  the  genuine  humanity  which  they 
had  shown,  while  they  in  turn  replied,  "As  we  began  it  in 
love,  so  in  love  will  we  end  it."  So  they  separated  "mutu- 
ally saying  friendly  farewell." 

b.      THE  WORK  OF  SPINOLA,  BISHOP  OF 
NEUSTADT 

ONE  of  the  peacemakers  of  the  seventeenth  century 
was  Christoph  Royas  von  Spinola,  a  Spaniard  by 
birth,  who  became  in  Madrid  a  general  of  the  Franciscan 
Order,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Tina,  and  in  1686,  Bishop 

115 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

of  Neustadt.  Moved  by  the  lamentable  persecutions  of  the 
Protestants  in  Hungary  and  Silesia  he  conceived  with  great 
earnestness  a  plan  of  reconciliation  in  the  distracted  lands 
through  mutual  conferences  between  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants. He  sought  first  to  win  for  this  project  the  support 
of  the  Protestant  princes  and  theologians.  With  this  object 
in  view,  refusing  the  prospect  of  a  life  of  comparative  ease 
and  preferment,  he  started  in  1675  on  his  mission  as  "an 
Ambassador  of  the  Peace  of  the  Church."  We  will  not  fol- 
low the  narrative  of  his  efforts  and  travels,  which  continued 
to  the  day  of  his  death,  but  there  are  some  things  which  he 
did  and  said  that  are  well  worth  recalling. 

Spinola  saw  that  he  must  begin  his  great  undertaking 
with  private  interviews  and  personal  conferences  with  those 
who  might  be  persuaded  to  work  together  for  the  common 
cause.  In  the  course  of  his  journeyings  he  went  to  Han- 
over, where  he  hoped  to  receive  some  favor,  and  he  found 
there  the  Duke  and  his  wife  full  of  earnest  hopes  for  the 
union.  There  he  met  with  Molanus,  a  Lutheran  theologian, 
who  had  been  a  pupil  of  Calixtus,  who  also  was  seeking  the 
way  of  reconciliation.  In  the  seclusion  of  the  Abbey  of 
Loccum,  these  two,  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant,  studied 
for  seven  months  together  the  doctrines  over  which  they 
were  divided.  As  the  result  of  their  quiet  pursuit  with  each 
other  of  the  way  of  reconciliation,  they  did  not  indeed  reach 
a  final  and  complete  plan  of  reunion,  but  they  did  succeed 
in  working  out  a  draft  of  rules  to  be  observed  in  further 
prosecution  of  their  endeavor.  They  went  over  the  different 
doctrinal  teachings  concerning  which  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics were  most  divided,  seeking  for  the  common  elements  of 
belief  in  them  and  the  points  for  mutual  approximation. 
While  it  was  impossible  that  an  Ecumenical  Council  should 
be  called,  they  hoped  that  a  council  sufficiently  general 
might  be  convened  to  give  adequate  expression  to  those 
Christian  beliefs  that  should  be  confessed  in  common.  Such 
a  consummation  they  thought  would  not  be  impossible  if 

116 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

methods  of  controversial  discussions  then  prevalent  should 
be  abandoned,  all  bitterness  and  jealousies  given  up,  and 
disputations  about  words  should  cease.  The  parties,  they 
believed,  stood  nearer  one  another  than  in  such  controver- 
sies it  had  appeared.  They  said,  "Peace  is  to  be  held  higher 
than  the  Chalice." 

After  this  conference  with  Molanus,  Spinola  entered  into 
correspondence  with  leading  Protestant  theologians,  and  he 
formulated  with  much  care  twenty-five  irenical  propositions, 
which  Leibnitz  is  authority  for  saying  had  been  gravely 
considered  and  received  some  private  sanction  from  the 
Pope.  He  then  travelled  hither  and  thither  to  carry  for- 
ward this  plan.  In  1691  he  received  a  royal  patent  as 
General  Commissioner  in  the  business  of  the  union,  all 
spiritual  and  worldly  members  of  Protestant  churches  were 
authorized  to  enter  into  conference  with  him,  and  their 
authorized  deputies  to  receive  every  magisterial  assistance. 
Spinola  said  that  the  few  theologians  well  disposed  to  this 
effort  were  to  be  sought  out  with  the  Lantern  of  Diogenes, 
since  things  had  come  to  such  a  pass  through  mutual  fault 
that  only  those  were  accounted  to  be  truly  zealous  teachers 
who  persecuted  most  extremely  the  opposite  party ;  and  con- 
sequently among  a  thousand  teachers  hardly  three  could  be 
found  who  would  venture  to  come  out  openly  in  behalf  of 
Church  peace  and  its  best  restoration.  He  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  finding  a  considerable  number  who  were  privately 
disposed  favorably  toward  it.  They  said  "they  found  noth- 
ing in  his  scheme  which  might  not  be  tolerated  and  granted 
in  the  love  of  peace  and  truth." 

Spinola,  so  we  are  told  in  the  preface  of  an  early  account 
of  his  endeavors,  was  "possessed  of  a  character  of  great 
sweetness,  piety  and  moderation  seldom  found  among  con- 
troversialists, especialy  in  the  heat  of  their  disputes." 

He  maintained  throughout  his  life-long  work  that  the 
"differences  between  the  Roman  Church  and  the  Protestants 
do  not  consist  in  the  fundamentals  of  salvation,  but  only  in 

117 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

the  matters  that  are  added."  While  he  was  arranging  to 
bring  about  a  private  conference  of  princes  and  councillors, 
in  1693,  Prince  George,  who  had  supported  him,  died,  and 
shortly  afterwards  Spinola  also  ended  his  labors,  and  entered 
into  the  peace  of  the  children  of  God. 

c.    MOLANUS'  PROPOSALS 

SUBSEQUENTLY  to  Molanus'  understanding  with 
Spinola,  he  sent  to  Bossuet  a  paper,  which  was  after- 
wards printed,  entitled,  "Private  Thoughts"  concerning  re- 
union. He  advanced  in  it  the  following  sentence  as  a 
theorem: 

A  reunion  of  the  Church  of  the  Protestants  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  is  not  only  possible,  but  in  respect  to  its  tem- 
poral and  eternal  gain  it  is  also  so  advantageous,  it  so  com- 
mends itself  to  each  and  all  Christians,  that  every  one, 
wherever  opportunity  offers,  in  every  place  and  at  any  time, 
should  feel  under  obligation  to  contribute  a  mite  to  it. 

He  had  in  mind  "a  union  which  might  be  effected  on  both 
sides  with  an  uninjured  conscience,  and  uninjured  mutual 
esteem,  and  with  the  uninjured  preservation  of  the  distinc- 
tive principles  and  hypotheses  of  both  Churches."  He  men- 
tioned six  requirements  which  might  be  granted  for  the 
future  reconciliation.  Among  these  the  fifth  relates  to 
ordination. 

The  Pope  might  confirm  the  protestant  ordination  already 
consummated,  in  a  fitting  and  nowise  prejudicial  manner; 
while  for  the  future,  after  the  union  should  be  accomplished, 
the  ordination  should  be  bestowed  by  the  Bishop  according 
to  the  Roman  usage,  whereby  it  is  expressly  to  be  noted  that 
we  would  consent  to  the  confirmation  of  our  ordination  solely 
for  the  sake  of  the  Catholics  in  the  event  of  the  union,  so 
that  no  weak  one  among  them  could  doubt  the  efficacy  of 
the  sacraments  offered  from  us  to  them. 

118 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

Molanus  proceeds  to  indicate  a  method  which  might  be 
followed  for  the  accomplishment  of  such  union;  he  would 
have  first  a  private  conference  of  those  who  are  disposed  to 
it,  and  he  specifies  with  much  care  the  character  and  stand- 
ing of  the  representatives  of  both  sides  who  should  be  called 
to  it.  He  then  proceeds  to  divide  the  questions  which  they 
would  have  to  consider  into  three  classes:  (i)  Those  relat- 
ing to  different  forms  and  explanations  of  expression.  (2) 
Those  questions  which  are  in  themselves  matters  of  con- 
troversy, but  with  regard  to  which  in  every  church  assent 
or  dissent  may  be  tolerated.  (3)  To  the  third  class  belong 
such  controverted  questions  between  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics which  neither  through  verbal  explanations  nor  through 
accommodation  can  be  determined,  since  here  decided  oppo- 
sitions occur.  These  latter  questions  Molanus,  like  others 
in  those  times  who  sought  for  reconciliation,  would  leave  to 
be  referred  to  a  future  general  council.  He  was  careful, 
however,  to  define  how  such  a  council  should  be  constituted ; 
equal  votes  were  to  be  given,  and  the  same  recognition  to 
both  parties,  and  the  Protestant  Superintendents  were  each 
and  all  to  be  validated  and  recognized  as  actual  bishops, 
who  together  with  the  Roman  bishops  should  be  invited  to 
the  General  Council,  and  have  equal  standing  and  voice. 
He  adds  further  conditions  concerning  the  Scriptures  as  the 
ground  and  norm  of  the  Council,  agreement  with  the  ancient 
Church  according  to  the  first  five  centuries ;  the  doctors  may 
discuss,  but  the  bishops  only  may  decide;  and  each  side  is 
to  be  under  obligations  to  abide  by  its  decisions  as  they  may 
be  declared  in  canons,  or  else  to  be  subject  to  its  penalties. 

Molanus  enters  into  an  elaborate  discussion  of  the  chief 
points  of  doctrinal  divergence,  endeavoring  to  show  how  they 
may  prove  capable  of  being  harmonized  sufficiently  for  the 
unity  to  be  effected;  but  into  this  doctrinal  discussion  we 
need  not  follow  him. 

The  conception  which  Molanus  had  in  mind  has  been 
rightly  described  in  these  words: 

119 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

To  express  it  after  the  manner  of  our  time  he  thought  of 
the  papacy  as  a  wisely  limited  constitutional  monarchy  or 
a  Church  constitutional  League,  in  which  the  whole  should 
be  firmly  held  together  in  mutual  peace,  while  to  the  indi- 
vidual provinces  a  proper  freedom  should  be  granted  for 
their  inner  administration  (Hering,  op.  cit.,  ii.,  p.  223). 


d.     CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  MOLANUS, 
LEIBNITZ  AND  BOSSUET,  1692-1701 

1EIBNITZ,  who  had  become  interested  in  the  views  of 
J  Molanus,  sent  a  copy  of  Molanus'  "Private  Thoughts" 
to  Bossuet,  commending  them  to  his  consideration.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  an  extensive  correspondence  between 
the  chief  philosopher  of  the  age  and  the  great  Roman  prel- 
ate and  famed  orator,  in  which  the  whole  field  of  contro- 
versy between  the  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  was 
thoroughly  traversed,  and  in  the  course  of  which,  as  partici- 
pants or  as  interested  spectators,  princes  and  princesses,  the- 
ologians and  courtiers,  the  Emperor  Leopold,  the  King  of 
France,  and  two  Popes,  Innocent  XI  and  his  successor,  were 
concerned.  Some  of  the  most  notable  women,  also,  of  that 
time  became  so  deeply  interested  in  it  that  it  is  related  of 
them  that  they  did  not  find  the  long  epistles  of  learned 
scholars  and  divines  dry  reading.  One  of  them,  Madame 
de  Brinon,  was  particularly  engaged  in  this  correspondence, 
for  much  of  it  passed  through  her  hands,  and,  when  it  was 
delayed  or  interrupted,  she  was  indefatigable  in  her  efforts 
to  bring  the  negotiations  to  some  more  satisfactory  issue. 
A  French  Catholic,  Pellison,  who  had  become  engaged  in 
the  correspondence,  wrote  of  her  to  Leibnitz,  "Madame 
Brinon  finds  fault  with  me  on  your  account.  She  says,  and 
I  believe  she  is  right,  that  we  think  of  nothing  else  but  your 
dynamics,  and  not  at  all  of  your  conversion,  which  is  the 
one  object  of  her  desire,  as  of  mine." 

This  exceedingly  interesting  episode  of  church  history 

120 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

has  received  but  passing  notice  from  the  writers  of  general 
history,  as  indeed  it  would  require  a  volume  to  do  full  jus- 
tice to  its  discussion.  As  it  marks  the  close  of  repeated 
attempts  to  reconcile  the  two  great  bodies  of  Christendom, 
the  Roman  and  the  Protestant,  the  study  of  this  prolonged 
correspondence  may  furnish  useful  precedents  to  indicate 
what  may  be  attempted  and  what  avoided  in  future  efforts 
to  attain  a  living  Christian  understanding  between  these 
two  long  estranged  communions  of  the  one  people  of  God. 
We  can  only  allude  to  some  suggestive  points  in  this  pro- 
longed correspondence. 

One  relates  to  the  method  of  discussions,  the  object  of 
which  is  not  so  much  to  change  different  opinions  as  it  is  to 
reconcile  them.    Leibnitz  wrote  to  Madame  de  Brinon: 

"In  important  matters  I  like  reasoning  to  be  clear  and 
brief,  with  no  beauty  or  ornament — such  reasoning  as 
accountants  and  surveyors  use  in  treating  of  lines  and 
curves."  Of  his  correspondents  on  the  other  side  he  wrote: 
"The  force  and  beauty  of  their  expressions  charm  me  so  far 
as  to  rob  me  of  my  judgment;  but  when  I  come  to  examine 
the  reasoning  as  a  logician  and  a  calculator,  it  escapes  my 
grasp." 

A  second  noticeable  point  is  a  difficulty  which  Bossuet, 
the  eloquent  orator,  may  have  felt  more  deeply  than  Leib- 
nitz, the  logical  reasoner.  Bossuet  wrote  that  he  could  not 
conceal  from  Leibnitz  "one  great  difficulty  that  many  Prot- 
estants under  the  beautiful  cloak  of  the  simplicity  of  the 
Christian  teachings  would  remove  all  mysteries  and  bring 
religion  back  to  common  truths."  Here  we  meet  again  the 
psychological  differences  which  unconsciously  often  stand  in 
the  way  of  a  happier  solution  of  what  we  are  so  content  to 
speak  of  as  "our  unhappy  divisions."  One  who  has  no 
mystic  sense  of  communing  through  nature  with  something 
diviner  than  is  seen — who  never  amid  the  silences  of  nature 
listens  as  though  nature  were  about  to  speak  of  things 
unutterable — one  whose  beliefs  must  be  as  defined  as  fields 

121 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

are  by  their  fences,  while  anything  undefined  on  the  far 
mystic  horizon  of  knowledge  is  to  be  regarded  with  mis- 
trust,— he  cannot  understand  the  symbolism  of  faith,  and 
may  too  readily  judge  the  Catholic  worship  to  be  an  inheri- 
tance of  superstition,  and  to  fear  as  idolatrous  forms  and 
modes  of  worship  in  which  devout  souls  have  felt  themselves 
to  be  in  the  presence  of  God. 

Not  only  the  logical  understanding  but  also  the  spiritual 
imagination  are  both  good  gifts  of  God,  and  to  reject  either 
one  from  the  service  of  His  church  is  to  cease  to  be  truly 
Catholic-minded. 

A  third  point  to  be  noticed  is  that  the  entire  discussion 
revolved  around  the  question  of  the  decrees  of  the  Council 
of  Trent.  That  indeed  was  the  rock  of  offence  on  which  all 
these  movements  and  hopes  of  reconciliation  during  the 
seventeenth  century  were  broken.  To  that  as  a  general 
council  or  a  final  judgment  the  Protestants  could  not  sub- 
mit. It  is  likewise  noteworthy  that  the  argument  which 
Bossuet  used  against  those  who  denied  its  authority  might 
be  turned  with  equal  point  and  poignancy  upon  the  pseudo- 
Catholicism  of  those  who  would  make  the  councils  of  the 
ancient  undivided  Church  the  supreme  court  of  last  resort 
for  all  churches  now. 

"If,"  so  Bossuet  argues,  "the  Protestants  agree  concerning 
Tradition  so  far  as  this,  that  through  it  only  the  sense  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  can  be  made  intelligible,  then  there 
would  be  scarcely  any  difficulty  left  over.  JBut  if  the  learned 
writer  exalts  so  high  the  agreement  of  the  ancient  Church  of 
the  first  five  centuries,  and  the  five  general  Synods,  so  I  ask 
him,  above  all,  whether  Christ  has  promised  only  through 
five  centuries  and  by  five  general  Councils  to  be  among  his 
own?" 

This  leads  directly  to  another  characteristic  of  this  famous 
seventeenth-century  discussion,  one  which  was  a  chief  cause 
of  its  failure;  viz.,  each  side  appealed  to  a  different  seat  of 
authority,  while  neither  of  them  appealed  directly  and  above 

122 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

all  to  the  living  authority  of  the  Spirit  abiding  in  the  Church 
to  lead  it  into  the  truth.  Whether  they  thought  the  au- 
thority was  to  be  found  in  the  letter  of  the  Scriptures,  or  in 
Tradition,  or  in  General  Councils,  or  in  St.  Peter's  line  of 
succession,  it  was  an  externalized  authority,  not  the  witness 
of  the  Spirit  from  the  beginning  given  to,  and  teaching 
through  the  whole  progressive  life  and  faith  of  the  Church. 
It  was  not  a  judgment  of  the  Christian  experience  of  God 
with  us  in  Christ,  to  which  alike  they  might  make  final 
appeal.  Leibnitz,  very  much  like  Erasmus,  was  ready  to 
submit  to  another  Council,  if  a  truly  general  one  should  be 
called;  Bossuet  had  submitted  to  the  Council  of  Trent,  and 
would  go  to  no  other;  Luther  had  appealed  directly  to  Christ 
through  the  Scriptures  and  to  the  soul's  experience  of  His 
grace.  The  Infallibility  does  not  reside  in  the  existing 
Church  at  any  one  time;  the  voice  of  the  whole  Church  of 
all  the  ages  declares  the  truth  of  the  Incarnation,  which  each 
successive  age  knows  in  part.  That  is  the  true  Light  which 
lighteth  every  man  coming  into  the  world.  The  Life  is  the 
light  of  the  Church.  Wherever  it  shines  it  is  its  own  evi- 
dence. 

This  correspondence,  which  had  been  soon  broken  off, 
was  resumed  by  Leibnitz  in  1699,  an  occasion  for  it  having 
been  offered.  But  it  had  been  assuming  a  more  controver- 
sial tone,  and  its  failure  was  becoming  apparent.  It  ended 
without  agreement  in  1701.  Bossuet's  biographer,  Cardinal 
Bausset  "cannot  understand  why  all  these  negotiations, 
which  had  opened  so  hopefully,  and  in  which  so  much  talent 
and  goodness  had  been  engaged,  came,  as  by  some  fatality 
to  no  results."  A  later  editor  of  this  correspondence  said 
that  "the  union  had  failed  through  the  fault  of  men  and 
things."  Leibnitz  himself  said  it  had  failed  because  of 
"reigning  passions."  When  disappointed  in  all  these  efforts, 
Leibnitz  wrote  to  one  of  his  friends,  "I  too  have  labored 
hard  to  settle  religious  controversies,  but  I  soon  discovered 
that  reconciling  doctrines  was  a  vain  work.    Then  I  planned 

123 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

a  kind  of  truce  of  God,  and  I  brought,  in  the  idea  of  tolera- 
tion, which  had  already  been  suggested  in  the  peace  of 
Westphalia."  In  one  of  his  letters  he  had  written  to  Bossuet 
that  instead  of  insisting  on  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  it  would  be  better  "to  agree  upon  another  method, — 
which  in  some  measure  resembles  that  of  the  geometrician, 
and  that  takes  nothing  for  granted  except  that  which  the 
opposer  in  fact  admits,  or  which  one  may  regard  as  estab- 
lished by  a  fundamental  proof."  But  at  last  when  all  his 
reasonings  had  failed,  Leibnitz  wrote,  "I  believe  an  overture 
from  the  heart  is  necessary  to  advance  these  good  designs." 
That  is  the  Christian  court  of  last  resort. 


2.     MOVEMENTS  FOR  REUNION  OF  PROTES- 
TANT CHURCHES 

a.    THE  PEACE-MAKING  TRAVELS  OF  JOHN  DURY 

AMONG  the  chief  apostles  of  reconciliation  of  the 
iJL  seventeenth  century  was  one  who  described  his  mis- 
sion in  these  words,  "Having  first  dealt  with  my  own  side 
and  gotten  their  consent  unto  this  aim,  I  have  offered  myself 
unto  the  rest  as  a  Solicitor  of  the  Councils  of  Peace,  and  a 
Servant  of  the  Communion  of  Saints  in  this  matter."  In 
the  preface  of  a  book  of  his  entitled,  "A  Model  of  Church 
Government,"  he  speaks  of  himself  as  "John  Dury  who  hath 
traveled  hitherto  in  the  work  of  peace  among  the  churches." 
A  brief  narration,  as  he  calls  it,  condensed  from  his  diary  of 
his  journeyings  to  and  fro,  shows  how  indefatigably  he  had 
labored  during  the  years  1631-33  throughout  Germany  on 
his  mission  of  peacemaking  among  the  divided  churches  of 
the  Reformation.  These  travels  from  England  to  the  conti- 
nent, all  over  Europe,  and  back  to  England  again,  in  the 
unwearied  and  never  despairing  pursuit  of  the  object  to 
which  he  had  early  devoted  his  life,  never  ceased  until  after 

124 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

fifty  years  of  devoted  labors  he  found  a  final  resting  place 
in  Cassel;  where,  though  no  longer  able  to  continue  his 
journeyings,  he  continued  his  endeavors  by  writing  letters 
to  the  Universities  and  to  men  of  eminence  in  behalf  of  the 
union  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  churches  *  His  nu- 
merous writings  contain  many  passages  which  with  but  slight 
changes  might  be  published  as  tracts  for  the  present  times. 

He  was  ministering  humbly  to  a  company  of  merchants 
in  Elburg,  Prussia,  when  the  call  came  to  him  to  become  a 
missionary  of  peace  throughout  the  Protestant  kingdoms. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  call  to  this  life  work  came 
to  him  first  from  a  layman,  possibly  from  the  king  of  Sweden. 
Dury  thus  describes  it: 

The  first  inducement  which  bound  my  conscience  was  the 
call  which  I  had  to  think  upon  the  same,  which  I  could  not 
but  answer,  except  I  should  have  been  wanting  to  my  duty 
in  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel.  Therefore  as  I  was  provoked 
to  think  upon  the  Object  of  Faith  and  Truth  I  thought  others 
would  be  moved  in  like  manner  to  do  the  same.  .  .  .  The 
second  inducement  was  the  necessity  of  the  times  to  heal  the 
breaches  of  the  Protestant  Churches  which  we  are  all  bound 
to  pray  for,  and  I  in  my  simplicity  did  think  what  I  am 
bound  to  sue  for  unto  Almighty  God  I  ought  also  to  use  my 
best  endeavors,  so  far  as  God  doth  enable  me,  to  promote. 

This  quotation  contains  an  application  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  perseverance  of  the  saints  to  which  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  duty  of  Church  unity  we  may  well  take  heed: 

I  came  to  this  resolution  that  I  made  a  Vow  of  persever- 
ance in  the  Worke,  whether  I  perceived  any  reasonable  fur- 
therance of  the  Worke  or  no,  in  respect  that  I  conceived  it  to 
be  a  necessary  Duty,  when  the  event  did  depend  on  God's 
special  Providence. 

The  spirit  in  which  he  pursued  this  life-long  mission  of 

*A  sketch  of  his  life  is  to  be  found  in  the  Constructive  Review, 
June,  1 914,  by  Newman  Smyth. 

125 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

reconciliation  shines  forth  from  this  passage  which  he  wrote 
a  few  years  later: 

As  for  myself  my  whole  work  is  to  judge  of  mine  own 
ways  how  to  keep  them  pure  and  without  offense  towards 
all,  how  to  hold  forth  the  Word  of  life,  and  thereby  to  stir 
up  every  one  to  follow  peace  and  reconcile  differences,  which 
are  destructive  of  Church  and  State,  in  a  Gospel  way,  chiefly 
when  God  doth  open  a  door  of  opportunity  unto  me,  and  this 
is  all  that  I  am  to  meddle  with  in  my  place  and  calling,  and 
as  I  hope  without  human  respects  and  worldly  ends  never 
to  be  wanting  to  this,  so  beyond  this  line  no  consideration, 
no  man  nor  thing,  God  willing,  shall  ever  draw  me. 

In  order  that  he  might  represent  the  Anglican  Church  as 
well  as  the  Presbyterian  he  had  received  additional  Episco- 
pal ordination  in  the  cathedral  of  Exeter  in  1634  without 
thereby  renouncing  his  previous  ordination,  and  with  the 
imposition  of  hands  of  several  presbyters  together  with  that 
of  the  bishop  himself. 

One  frequently  comes  across  in  Dury's  writings  graphic 
descriptions  of  the  evils  of  the  divided  state  of  Protestant- 
ism; the  following  is  a  specimen: 

We  stand  as  a  tall  man  distracted  in  his  thoughts,  and 
divided  in  all  his  resolutions;  who  hath  no  command  or 
little  use  of  his  members,  because  they  are  all  out  of  joint, 
and  hang,  as  it  were,  loose  one  from  another.  Thus  the 
Church,  the  tallest  of  any  Reformed  in  Europe,  and  fit  to 
be  leader  of  the  rest  in  the  spiritual  conquest  of  Canaan 
doth  stand  within  itself  and  to  others  useless. 

But  Dury  even  amid  his  ever  recurring  disappointments 
never  became  a  pessimistic  deplorer  of  existing  evils,  or  a 
self-opinionated,  destructive  agitator;  above  all  he  was  a 
constructive  Church  statesman.  He  held  himself  up  to  this 
clear  note:  "The  true  way  of  advancing  Christianity  is  not 
destructive,  but  edification." 

His  method  of  overcoming  the  dissensions  of  the  churches 

126 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

is  worthy  of  our  study  and  imitation.  Primarily  it  was  a 
personal  method.  He  is  always  seeking  out  individuals  who 
may  promote  his  cause.  He  spared  no  effort  or  travel  to 
find  the  right  men  who  might  prove  helpful.  He  would 
gain  the  few  here  and  there  that  they  might  reach  the 
many.  Then  he  adopted  and  pursued  to  the  end  what  he 
called  the  way  of  "amiable  conferences."  He  would  have 
nothing  to  do,  however,  with  what  he  regarded  as  conferences 
for  scholastic  disputations.    He  writes: 

Except  I  can  perceive  the  conference  to  be  intended 
towards  the  use  of  edifying,  I  shall  not  meddle  with  it.  That 
I  may  not  be  mistaken  that  what  is  intended  concerns  the 
use  of  edifying,  I  take  the  measure  of  my  own  and  other 
men's  aims  by  two  Rules:  the  first  is,  if  either  the  matter 
itself  is  not  fit  to  manifest  some  part  of  God's  glory,  or  if 
the  aim  of  those  that  handle  it  is  not  set  professedly  to  show 
forth  that  part  of  the  glory  which  the  matter  offers;  then  I 
conclude  that  the  handling  of  it  is  not  intended  to  edifica- 
tion. The  second  thing  is,  that  if  the  matter  and  handling 
of  it  is  to  the  end  of  the  commandment  which  is  charity, 
then  I  conclude  that  it  is  intended  for  edification,  because 
charity  doth  edify. 

He  laid  down  several  rules  for  the  conduct  of  such  con- 
ferences. They  are  an  excellent  combination  of  logic  and 
charity.  He  would  have  "an  orderly  way  of  proceeding  in 
all  doubtful  matters  to  find  the  decision  thereof."  He  de- 
precated the  "confusions  which  hitherto  by  confused  means 
of  agitaton  have  been  unavoidable."  In  current  religious 
discussions,  and  especially  through  the  papers,  this  obser- 
vation is  very  much  to  the  point: 

Nor  is  there  anything  that  doth  more  intangle  and  in- 
crease the  multiplication  of  needless  Debates,  than  the  mis- 
take of  the  points  of  difference  either  wilfully  or  ignorantly 
entertained,  By  this  means  Satan  doth  enable  and  engage 
men's  spirits  to  make  their  contentions  inextricable,  endless, 
and  irreconcilable;  for  when  the  question  is  not  distinctly 

127 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

stated,  the  men  are  entered  upon  controversy,  they  will 
rather  alter  the  point  of  debate  twenty  times,  than  seem  to 
be  found  in  error  once. 

He  was  too  intent  upon  the  one  aim  of  unity  to  be 
drawn  aside  by  any  minor  differences.  Matters  more  essen- 
tial he  would  seek  to  reconcile  "by  a  fundamental  confes- 
sion of  faith,  and  of  duties  requisite  unto  salvation,  which 
might  be  common  to  all,  and  openly  professed  as  the  sum 
and  substance  of  religion  and  badge  of  our  fraternal  union." 
He  sought  also  "a  common  and  infallible  rule  of  interpret- 
ing the  Holy  Scriptures."  He  was,  however,  to  some  extent 
advanced  beyond  his  age,  for  his  love  for  unity  had  led  him 
to  deprecate  the  habit  of  maintaining  systems  of  doctrine 
and  forms  of  Church  government  by  means  of  isolated  pas- 
sages or  meanings  of  particular  words  of  Scripture. 

He  elaborated  a  plan  for  a  conference  on  unity  which 
anticipated,  by  over  two  centuries  and  a  half,  our  plans  for 
a  proposed  World  Conference  on  Faith  and  Order.  We 
give  it,  slightly  abbreviated,  from  his  "Way  to  heal  our 
present  distempers." 

Let  all  parties  who  take  the  Holy  Scriptures  for  their 
Rule  of  Faith  and  Practice,  set  forth  positively  and  declare 
plainly,  either  what  they  judge  to  be  fundamental  in  Matter 
of  Doctrine  and  Practice,  or  clearly  commanded  for  Edifica- 
tion, or  that  in  which  they  profess  a  full  agreement  with 
their  Brethren,  Then,  First,  let  the  parties  by  some  of  their 
selected  men  (who  shall  do  all  things  with  their  consent  and 
knowledge)  make  a  Draught  of  the  full  agreement  of  these 
former  Declarations,  and  that  being  imparted  unto  all  an 
Acknowledgment  be  made  concerning  it  in  that  whereunto 
they  all  have  attained,  and  wherein  they  mind  the  same 
thing  to  edify  one  another  in  the  Truth  whereunto  they  are 
come.  Secondly,  let  the  same  parties  declare  negatively 
the  things  wherein  they  conceive  they  disagree  from  each 
other.  And  when  these  Declarations  are  drawn  up,  let  those 
who  have  perused  them  add  their  advice  concerning  the 
Ways  of  reconciling  Differences,  and  then  let  some  selected 

128 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

men,  the  most  Moderate  of  each  Party,  be  called  together 
to  set  down  the  joint  agreement  of  their  Advices  concerning 
the  way  of  reconciling  Differences,  and  according  to  that 
Agreement,  let  them  .make  a  trial  of  reconciling  the  Differ- 
ences, and  Offer  it  to  all  only  as  an  Essay  without  preju- 
dice to  any,  to  be  considered.  Thirdly,  Let  the  same 
Parties  declare  both  positively  and  negatively  the  Rules 
by  which  they  are  willing  to  walk  inoffensibly  towards 
those  with  whom  they  do  not  agree,  and  in  case  any 
offense  be  given  or  taken,  How  the  same  ought  to  be 
taken  away  by  mutual  consent.  Here  then  the  same 
selected  men,  or  others,  may  set  awork  to  peruse  such 
Declarations,  and  gather  into  one  Body  the  Rules  where- 
unto  all  sides  will  agree  to  walk  to  avoid  offenses. 

As  a  means  of  overcoming  ecclesiastical  and  dogmatic 
separations  Dury  sought  to  turn  men's  thoughts  to  "prac- 
tical divinity."  He  brought  back  to  England  a  letter  signed 
by  several  German  divines  urging  the  British  divines,  as 
eminently  fitted  for  the  task,  to  prepare  "a  full  Body  of 
Practical  Divinity."  The  Church  too  often  has  been 
tempted  to  make  logic  greater  than  love;  it  was  Dury's  ever 
repeated  message  that  if  men,  and  especially  the  ministry 
of  the  Church,  should  seek  first  to  practice  love,  the  divi- 
sions that  imperilled  Protestantism  might  be  dried  up  at  the 
source.  He  had  observed  the  dissensions  that  spring  from 
ministers  preaching  "particular  things"  too  much,  and 
"over-shooting  themselves"  in  their  zeal  for  special  parties; 
he  would  stir  up  the  ministry  to  preach  rather  "the  main 
things  which  discover  the  life  and  the  spiritual  estate  of 
Christ  as  the  Truth  is  in  Him."  He  had  learned  to  see  things 
in  their  large  relations  and  their  lasting  values ;  he  saw,  as  he 
expressed  it,  "the  nature  and  property  of  the  Work  itself 
as  it  hath  place  in  the  kingdom  of  God."  "This  conviction," 
he  says,  "grew  upon  me,  when  I  had  been  a  certain  space 
in  action."  He  had  noticed  among  scholars  that  "the  small- 
est differences  of  opinions  beget  ordinarily  the  extremest 
differences  of  affection."    He  pointed  out  a  common  fault 

129 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

of  human  nature  even  among  religious  people  in  this  obser- 
vation: "Great  disputes  fall  out  from  small  matters,  whence 
schisms  and  separations  at  last  arise  in  the  Church." 

Dury  urged  certain  rules  for  "a  Professor  of  Christianity 
in  entering  into  a  Debate,  ...  He  was  to  consider  the 
Worth  of  the  Subject  and  the  End  of  Edification."  Besides 
this,  he  would  emphasize  first  "how  to  state  the  question 
rightly."  As  long  ago  as  1660  this  ambassador  of  the  peace 
of  the  churches  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  partisan 
names.  He  proposed  that  the  names  which  had  then  become 
current,  such  as  presbyterial,  prelatical,  congregational  and 
others  should  be  abolished  as  distinctive  of  the  churches, 
and  that  they  should  be  known  simply  as  the  Reformed 
Christians  of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Germany.  He 
had  at  heart  "the  common  cause  of  Protestantism."  What 
he  meant  by  that  for  his  age  he  describes  as  follows:  "(1) 
The  Interest  of  Scripture  Knowledge.  (2)  Of  the  Life  of 
the  Spirit.  (3)  Of  orderly  Walking  in  all  God's  Ordinances 
Natural  and  Spiritual.  (4)  Of  the  Communion  of  the 
Churches  in  reference  to  mutual  Edification  in  the  fore- 
named  matters."  For  us  now  after  the  war  it  is  no  longer 
the  common  cause  of  Protestantism  but  of  Christianity 
itself  that  is  at  stake.  For  the  sake  of  this  common  cause  of 
Christians  throughout  the  world  his  warning  from  that  age 
of  the  trial  as  by  fire  of  the  Reformation  should  come  to 
us, — "If  the  common  cause  of  Protestantism  be  made  any- 
thing less  than  the  Propagation  of  the  Light  of  the  Gospel 
it  is  foully  mistaken/' 

It  may  be  truly  said  of  Dury  that  he  had  "hitched  his 
wagon  to  a  star";  one  luminous  Christian  idea  he  had  fol- 
lowed through  the  confusions  and  revolutionary  changes  of 
those  tumultuous  times.  He  had  gone  forth  in  obedience 
to  his  heavenly  vision  in  the  later  period  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War;  he  had  kept  on  his  single  purpose  through  the  Civil 
War  in  England,  during  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and  subsequently  in  the  time  of  the  Restoration.  He  had 

130 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

not,  however,  escaped  bitter  reproach  from  many  sides.  A 
partisan  of  the  straiter  sort,  William  Prynne,  in  the  time 
of  the  Commonwealth  had  characterized  him  as  "the  time- 
serving Proteous  and  ambi-dexterous  divine" ;  to  which  Dury 
replied  that  he  was  "the  unchanged,  constant  and  simple- 
minded  Peacemaker."  His  stedfast  pursuit  of  his  one  aim 
throughout  all  changes  and  failures,  is  evidence  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  living  at  any  time  by  Christian  principles  which 
shall  stand  the  test  of  all  times.  This  "traveler  in  the  way 
of  love,"  as  he  once  described  himself,  had  passed  beyond 
the  plain  of  crowded,  conflicting  interests,  above  the  habit- 
able foothills  of  toleration,  and  gained  from  loftier  height 
the  vision  of  one  people  and  Church  of  God,  who  is  over  all. 
After  a  long  life  of  over  fifty  years  of  unceasing  labors  in 
his  old  age,  Dury's  travels  were  ended,  yet  in  his  retirement 
he  continued  to  correspond  with  men  of  eminence  in  behalf 
of  the  union  of  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  churches.  But 
he  seemed  to  have  sown  the  good  seed  among  the  theologians 
on  stony  ground.  Shall  we  say  that  he  had  failed?  Mid- 
way in  his  career,  when  some  of  his  labors  had  come  to 
naught,  he  said,  "although  there  is  not  much  appearing  out- 
wardly yet  some  grounds  are  laid  which  I  am  confident  the 
gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail  against."  Shall  we  say  that 
such  a  life  was  wasted?  He  had  kept  the  vow  of  his  youth. 
Through  wars  in  the  world,  and  amid  strife  of  tongues  in 
the  Church,  he  had  walked  in  "the  way  of  doing  all  things 
in  love";  for  he  saw  a  better  country,  and  he  died  in  faith, 
not  having  received  the  promises,  but  having  greeted  them 
from  afar.  He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh;  and  not  he  alone. 
In  every  generation  since  there  have  been  those  who  have 
sought  the  peace  of  the  churches  and  pursued  it.  It  is  not 
for  us  to  say  that  these  have  spent  their  strength  for 
naught;  for  their  labors  are  our  heritage;  their  prayers  our 
promises;  the  fruits  of  their  devotion  are  within  reach  of 
our  hands;  the  harvest  of  their  sowing  is  already  ripe  for 
our  generation  to  reap. 

131 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

b.     CONFERENCES  FOR  REUNION  OF  THE 
CHURCHES  IN  ENGLAND 

i.  Archbishop  Cranmer's  proposal  for  a  Synod.  In 
1552  Cranmer  wrote  to  Calvin  urging  that  a  synod  be  con- 
vened of  "learned  and  godly  men,  who  are  eminent  for  eru- 
dition and  judgment,  who  might  meet  together  and  compare- 
ing  their  respective  opinions  might  handle  all  the  heads  of 
doctrine  and  hand  down  to  posterity,  under  the  weight  of 
their  judgment,  some  work  not  only  upon  the  subjects  them- 
selves, but  upon  the  forms  of  expressing  them."  He  men- 
tioned particularly  "how  exceedingly  the  church  of  God 
had  been  injured  by  dissentions  and  varieties  of  opinions 
respecting  the  sacrament  of  unity."  To  this  letter  Calvin 
earnestly  assented,  deeming  Cranmer's  opinion  just  and 
wise  that  "in  the  present  disordered  condition  of  the  Church 
no  remedy  can  be  devised  more  suitable  than  if  a  general 
meeting  were  held  of  the  devout  and  the  prudent,  of  those 
properly  educated  in  the  school  of  God,  and  of  those  who 
are  confessedly  at  one  on  the  doctrine  of  holiness.  .  .  . 
Thus  it  is  that  the  members  of  the  Church  being  severed, 
the  body  lies  bleeding.  So  much  does  this  concern  me, 
that,  could  I  be  of  any  service,  I  would  not  grudge  to  cross 
over  ten  seas,  if  need  were,  on  account  of  it"  (Calvin's  Let- 
ters, Bonnet's  Ed.,  v.,  ii.,  p.  345).  This  project,  on  the 
death  of  King  Edward,  who  favored  it,  fell  through.  Cal- 
vin's controlling  aim,  however,  as  appears  from  this  letter, 
was  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  faith  from  being  destroyed 
by  the  dissensions  of  men.  It  was  not  the  unity  of  the 
Church  itself  so  much  as  the  agreement  in  handing  down  to 
posterity  the  true  doctrine  of  Scripture,  that  he  had,  above 
all,  in  mind. 

2.  At  a  conference  concerning  the  relations  of  the  Angli- 
can Church  with  the  Roman  Catholics,  which  was  held  in 
the  year  1575  in  Westminster  Abbey,  the  Anglican  bishops 
protested  that  it  was  not  for  them  to  prove  the  Church's 

132 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

doctrine  to  be  true;  they  professed  the  old  established  form 
of  Christendom;  if  it  were  attacked,  they  were  ready  to 
answer  objections.  So  the  case  was  foreclosed  from  the  be- 
ginning. As  Froude  remarks,  "they  were  but  actors  in  a 
play  of  which  the  finale  was  already  arranged"  (History  of 
England,  vol.  vii.,  p.  75). 

3.  The  Hampton  Court  Conference  in  1604  needs  only 
to  be  mentioned.  It  left  the  relations  between  the  bishops 
and  the  Presbyterians  even  more  embittered  than  it  was 
before.  The  last  words  of  the  king,  as  he  passed  out  of  the 
room,  were,  "I  will  make  them  conform,  or  I  will  harry  them 
out  of  the  land,  or  else  do  worse." 

4.  Another  less  known  conference  was  held  in  London  in 
1 64 1,  consisting  of  ten  bishops,  ten  earls,  and  ten  barons, 
appointed  by  the  Lords,  and  presided  over  by  Bishop  Wil- 
liams, of  whom  this  much  may  be  said  in  his  favor,  that  he 
was  held  in  disfavor  by  Laud.  There  were  several  men  of 
moderation  in  this  committee,  but  besides  proposing  sev- 
eral changes  of  a  conciliatory  nature,  they  accomplished 
nothing;  it  was  only  a  half-hearted  effort  for  reform. 

5.  Archbishop  Usher's  "Reduction  of  Episcopacy  unto 
the  form  of  Synodical  Government  received  in  the  ancient 
Church."  This  proposal  of  Usher  received  much  favor  from 
the  Puritans  for  some  time  afterwards,  and  moderate  Church- 
men were  not  unwilling  to  accept  it,  but  the  bishops  were 
not  disposed  to  regard  such  suggestions,  and  the  Puritans 
in  their  hour  of  dominance  were  not  inclined  to  compromise. 
Again  its  failure  of  adoption  leaves  us  to  speculate  as  to 
what  might  have  been.  Now  this  Reduction  of  Episcopacy 
to  a  Synodical  form,  which  failed  then,  returns  for  sugges- 
tive reconsideration  in  connection  with  the  pending  formu- 
lation of  plans  for  some  method  of  organic  reunion  which 
were  inaugurated  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  May,  19 19.    Usher  wrote  concerning  it: 

True  it  is  that  in  our  Church  this  kind  of  presbyterial 
government  hath  been  long  disused.    And  how  easily  this 

133 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

ancient  form  of  government  by  the  united  suffrages  of  the 
clergy  might  be  revived  again,  and  with  what  little  show 
of  alteration  the  synodical  convocation  of  the  parties  of 
every  parish  might  be  accorded  with  the  presidency  of  the 
bishops  of  each  diocese  and  province,  the  indifferent  reader 
may  quickly  perceive  by  the  perusal  of  the  following  pro- 
posals.   (Works,  vol.  xii.,  p.  527.) 

It  may  best  serve  our  present  purpose  to  quote  an  excel- 
lent summary  of  those  proposals  in  comparison  with  exist- 
ing Presbyterian  usages,  which  is  given  in  a  recent  volume 
on  "Episcopacy  and  Unity,"  by  H.  A.  Wilson  (p.  147). 

The  idea  of  Usher's  "Reduction"  was  to  combine  the 
essential  features  of  Presbyterian  discipline  with  a  modifi- 
cation and  extension  of  the  episcopate.  Churchwardens  and 
sidesmen  were  to  fill  the  post  of  Presbyterian  lay-elders,  and 
to  make  their  voices  heard  in  the  organization  and  discipline 
of  the  parish.  The  clergy  were  to  assist  in  the  direction  of 
the  affairs  of  the  diocese,  and  so  the  bete  noire  of  Puritan- 
ism, episcopal  autocracy,  would  be  at  least  moderated.  In 
every  parish  the  rector  or  incumbent,  with  churchwardens 
and  sidesmen,  were  to  meet  at  short  intervals  for  the  settle- 
ment of  parish  affairs  and  discipline — this  was  to  answer  to 
the  Presbyterian  Kirk-session.  In  each  rural-deanery  a 
suffragan  bishop  was  to  be  placed,  and  he  was  to  assemble 
at  frequent  intervals  all  the  clergy  and  lay-officials  of  his 
district  to  deal  with  the  business  which  should  arise — this 
was  to  be  the  equivalent  of  the  Presbytery.  A  diocesan 
synod  should  meet  each  half-year  presided  over  by  the 
"bishop  or  superintendent  (call  him  whether  you  will), 
answering  to  the  Presbyterian  Provincial  Synod.  Lastly, 
all  the  bishops  and  clergy  of  a  province  were  to  meet  every 
third  year  with  the  primate  presiding,  who  "might  be  the 
moderator  of  this  meeting";  this  was  to  answer  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk. 

6.  The  Savoy  Conference,  so  called  from  the  old  palace 
in  which  it  was  held  in  1661,  ended  in  the  disappointment 

134 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

of  the  hopes  of  the  Presbyterians,  and  in  1662,  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  was  passed.  The  separation,  as  of  a  great  gulf, 
fixed  by  that  act,  remains  to  this  day.  Towards  each  other 
the  Established  Church  of  England  and  the  Nonconformists 
are  in  a  state  of  schism.  A  recent  Anglican  writer  says  of 
the  Hampton  Conference,  it  was  "a  deplorable  example  of  a 
lost  opportunity."  Of  the  repeated  endeavors  of  Baxter  and 
others  during  this  period  to  find  some  measure  of  agreement 
with  the  bishops  a  historian  of  the  "Ecclesiastical  History 
of  England,"  has  observed: 

An  opportunity  had  arisen  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of 
England  for  healing  a  wound  which  had  been  bleeding  ever 
since  the  Reformation.  A  moment  had  arrived,  calling  upon 
the  two  great  parties,  into  which  that  Church  had  been  so 
long  divided,  to  look  at  differences  in  the  light  of  wisdom 
and  charity.  But  the  history  of  mankind  presents  so  many 
misapproved  conjunctions  of  circumstances,  that  students 
of  the  past  become  familiar  with  lost  opportunities. 
(Stoughton,  op.  eh.,  ii.,  p.  107.) 

When  looked  at  as  merely  differences  of  opinions  con- 
cerning vestments,  forms  of  worship,  or  theological  dogmas, 
these  failures  to  find  some  common  ground  of  Christian 
fellowship  seem  to  mark  a  period  in  English  history  of 
unpardonable  oppressions,  mutual  uncharitableness,  and 
disastrous  loss  to  the  Church.  When  viewed  in  their  larger 
relations  to  political  history  and  as  moments  in  the  progres- 
sive development  of  the  Church  in  its  struggle  for  free  exist- 
ence amid  the  then  existing  conditions,  these  repeated  efforts, 
and  their  seeming  failure,  take  on  a  different  and  prophetic 
aspect;  they  bear  witness  to  the  Life,  in  the  Church,  itself 
incorruptible,  through  losses  gathering  strength,  and  coming 
forth  from  a  period  of  disappointed  hopes  to  a  new  age  of 
fulfilment.  From  our  biological  point  of  view,  in  accord- 
ance with  analogies  of  nature,  the  ways  of  providence  in  this 
prolonged  struggle  of  the  Spirit  of  Life,  in  which  is  liberty, 

135 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

through  this  whole  period  of  English  history,  receive  their 
explanation  and  their  justification. 

7.  In  the  year  1659  Stillingfleet  published  his  remark- 
able "Irenicum  or  Weapon-Salve  for  the  Wounds  of  the 
Church."  In  1674,  Tillotson,  afterwards  Archbishop,  to- 
gether with  Stillingfleet,  held  a  conference  with  several  Non- 
conformist divines  in  London.  But  they  were  frowned  on 
by  most  of  the  bishops  and  aspersed  by  their  clerical  breth- 
ren. Subsequently  two  other  similar  efforts  were  made,  in 
one  of  which  it  was  proposed  that  those  having  presbyterial 
orders  should  receive  further  episcopal  ordination  in  these 
words,  "Take  thou  legal  authority  to  preach  the  word,  and 
administer  the  sacraments  in  any  congregation  of  the  Church 
of  England,  where  thou  shalt  be  appointed  thereto."  When 
these  negotiations  became  known  the  cry  was  raised  that 
the  Church  was  in  danger.  Parliament  passed  what  Bishop 
Burnett  called  "a  very  extraordinary  vote  that  no  bill  to 
that  purpose  should  be  received"  ("History  of  My  Own 
Time,"  p.  176).  Tillotson,  however,  did  not  give  up  his 
irenical  endeavors.  In  1689,  under  the  more  favorable  con- 
ditions upon  the  accession  of  King  William,  he  entered  upon 
a  larger,  more  determined  scheme  of  comprehension.  He 
prepared  a  paper,  so  his  biographer  tells  us,  in  which  he 
enumerated  "concessions  which  will  probably  be  made  by 
the  Church  of  England  for  the  union  of  Protestants." 
Among  these  it  was  proposed  that  in  the  future  ordinations 
should  be  made  by  the  bishops;  that  those  already  ordained 
by  presbyters  should  not  be  required  to  renounce  their  pre- 
vious ordination,  but  that  they  should  receive  conditional 
ordination  from  the  Bishop  in  this  or  some  like  form,  "If 
thou  art  not  already  ordained,  I  ordain  thee,"  etc.  This 
plan  was  finally  rejected  by  the  lower  house  of  Convoca- 
tion, and  Parliament  passed  the  Act  of  Toleration,  and  that 
of  comprehension  disappeared. 

In  a  diary  referring  to  it  there  is  found  this  lament  over 
its  failure: 

136 


HISTORICAL  MATERIALS  FOR  PRESENT  USES 

What  a  deplorable  case  we  are  reduced  to  that  so  many 
attempts  for  reformation  (comprehension)  have  been  un- 
successful, particularly  that  most  famous  in  the  beginning 
of  the  late  reign,  1689,  when  so  many  incomparable  persons 
of  primitive  candor  and  piety  were  concerned  therein,  of 
which  my  Lord  Archbishop  of  York  has  spoke  to  me  with 
deep  concern;  for  which  disappointment  all  good  Christians 
have  the  deeper  cause  to  sorrow,  because  we  are  positively 
told  that  in  all  probability  it  would  have  brought  in  two- 
thirds  of  the  Dissenters  in  England.  Lord  send  us  Thy 
Holy  and  Peaceable  Spirit  to  influence  the  hearts  of  such  as 
have  power  in  their  hands  to  heal  our  piteous  breaches  in 
Thy  due  time?  (Ralph  Thoresby's  Diary,  cited  by  Wilson, 
p.  234.) 


137 


VIII 

HISTORICAL  PRECEDENTS  AND 
OPINIONS 

i.     CONCERNING  ORDINATION  BY  BISHOPS 

QUESTIONS  relating  to  episcopacy  and  ordination 
became  matters  of  concern  in  England  when  in  the 
earlier  years  of  the  Reformation  exiles  from  Eng- 
land began  to  return  and  reformers  from  the  con- 
tinent came  over  to  England.  Whether  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  should  commune  freely  with  the  Re- 
formed Churches  on  the  continent  brought  also  the  question 
of  non-episcopal  orders  to  the  front. 

In  a  volume  on  the  "Church  of  England  and  Episco- 
pacy," Camon  A.  J.  Mason  has  collected  a  series  of  extracts 
from  Anglican  scholars  and  divines  from  the  earlier  Eliza- 
bethan period  until  the  so-called  Catholic  Revival  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  He  shows  by  this  catena  of  passages 
the  trend  of  Anglican  opinions  on  these  questions  from  the 
beginning  of  the  Reformation.  Two  main  tendencies  are 
thus  indicated,  the  stricter  view  of  the  necessity  of  episco- 
pacy to  the  esse  of  the  Church,  and  the  more  moderate  view 
of  those  who  would  concede  that  episcopal  ordination  was 
not  in  all  cases  necessary.  It  is  sufficient  to  cite  a  few  such 
extracts  to  indicate  the  prevalence  of  the  latter  opinion. 

Archbishop  Jewel:  "Neither  doth  the  Church  of  England 
depend  on  them  (i.e.  the  bishops),  ...  If  there  were  not 
one,  yet  would  not  the  whole  Church  of  England  have  to 

138 


HISTORICAL  PRECEDENTS  AND  OPINIONS 

flee  to  Louvain"  ("Defense  of  Apology,"  Part  ii,  Ch.  v., 
Div.  i). 

Dr.  Hammond,  chancellor  of  the  diocese  of  London,  wrote 
to  Lord  Burleigh  in  1588,  as  follows:  "The  Bishops  of  our 
realm  do  not  (so  far  as  I  ever  yet  heard),  nor  may  not, 
claim  to  themselves  any  other  authority  than  is  given  them 
by  the  statute  of  the  25th  of  King  Henry  VIII,  recited  the 
first  year  of  His  Majesty's  reign,  neither  is  it  reasonable 
they  should  make  other  claim,  for  if  it  had  pleased  Her 
Majesty  with  the  wisdom  of  the  realm  to  have  used  no 
bishops  at  all,  we  would  not  have  complained  justly  of  any 
defect  in  our   Church"    (cited  by   Selbie,   English   Sects, 

p.  38). 

Archbishop  Whitgift  was  the  first  of  the  Elizabethans  to 
maintain  against  the  rising  party  of  the  Presbyterians  the 
office  of  the  bishops  to  ordain;  he  asserted  that  "the  bishops 
were  appointed  as  successors  to  the  apostles,  especially  in 
certain  points  of  their  functions"  (Mason,  op.  cit.,  p.  29). 

Richard  Hooker.  The  moderate  views  of  the  judicious 
Hooker  are  too  well  known  to  require  explanation;  it  is 
enough  to  cite  these  words  concerning  the  power  of  ordina- 
tion in  the  Church: 

The  whole  body  of  the  Church  hath  power  to  alter  with 
general  consent  and  upon  necessary  occasions,  even  the  posi- 
tive laws  of  the  Apostles,  if  there  be  no  command  to  the 
contrary  and  it  manifestly  appears  to  her  that  change  of 
times  have  clearly  taken  away  the  very  reason  of  God's  first 
institution  (Book  vii.,  5,  8).  There  may  be  sometimes  very 
just  and  sufficient  reason  to  allow  ordination  made  without  a 
bishop.  .  .  .  Howbeit  as  the  ordinary  course  is  ordinarily  in 
all  things  to  be  observed,  so  it  may  be  in  some  cases  not 
unnecessary  that  we  decline  from  the  ordinary  ways  (Book 
vii.,  xiv.,  11). 

Without  citing  further  opinions  from  the  succeeding  pe- 
riods, we  note  the  precedent  of  ordination  per  saltum  in 
1610. 

James  the  First,  desiring  to  force  episcopacy  upon  Scot- 

139 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

land,  had  three  presbyters  of  Scotland,  who  had  been  or- 
dained only  by  the  Presbyterian  rite,  consecrated  as  bishops 
in  London.  The  Bishop  of  Ely,  Dr.  Andrewes,  on  that  occa- 
sion raised  the  crucial  question  that  they  should  first  receive 
episcopal  ordination  as  presbyters.  The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  Dr.  Bancroft,  who  was  present,  maintained, 
that  "thereof  there  was  no  necessity,  seeing  where  bishops 
could  not  be  had,  the  ordination  by  presbyters  must  be 
esteemed  lawful,  otherwise  that  it  might  be  doubted,  if 
there  were  any  lawful  vocation  in  most  of  the  Reformed 
churches. "  This  applauded  to  by  the  other  bishops,  Ely 
consented.  A  slightly  variant  version  was  given  of  what 
Archbishop  Bancroft  said,  viz.,  "that  there  was  no  necessity 
of  receiving  the  order  of  priesthood,  but  that  episcopal  ordi- 
nation might  be  given  without  it."  This  would  be  ordina- 
tion per  saltum.  It  has  become  of  some  importance  in 
present  discussions  since  the  last  Lambeth  Conference  of 
Anglican  divines  in  1908  declared  that  "it  might  be  possi- 
ble to  make  an  approach  to  reunion  on  the  basis  of  conse- 
crations to  the  Episcopate  on  lines  suggested  by  such  prece- 
dents as  those  of  1610." 

Moreover  the  late  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  John  Wordsworth, 
after  an  elaborate  study  of  "Ordination  Problems,"  advo- 
cated the  course  of  giving  ordination  as  bishops,  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  precedent,  per  saltum,  to  Presbyterian 
ministers;  this  course  would  pass  over,  and  involve  no  ques- 
tioning as  to  the  validity  of  their  previous  ordination  as 
presbyters.  Bishop  Wordsworth  gave  several  reasons  for 
it  such  as  these: 

"The  Anglican  Communion  is  competent  to  dispense  with 
any  rules  of  discipline  which  do  not  touch  the  essentials  of 
ordination  as  to  matter,  form,  intention,  and  minister  .  .  . 
The  Gelasian  principle  of  the  suspension  of  ecclesiastical 
rules  in  times  of  necessity  is  also  in  its  favor."  He  argues 
further  that  "the  principle  of  the  Apostolic  Canon  exempli- 
fied in  the  freedom  of  ordination  not  only  of  laymen  when 

140 


HISTORICAL  PRECEDENTS  AND  OPINIONS 

pointed  out  by  a  vox  dei,  but  of  persons  endowed  with  spir- 
itual gifts,  without  any  previous  probation,  is  even  more 
pertinent.  For  the  highest  churchmen  must  recognize  in 
many  leading  Presbyterian  and  Nonconformist  ministers  a 
remarkable  exhibition  of  the  grace  of  God  and  a  ministry 
blessed  of  Him."  He  urges  also  that  "the  course  proposed 
would  avoid  casting  any  doubt  on  the  ordination  already 
received,  and  no  doubt  exceedingly  valued,  by  the  Minis- 
ters so  consecrated  Bishops"  (pp.  130-132).  In  this  con- 
nection reference  may  be  made  also  to  the  view  expressed 
by  Professor  Briggs  in  his  distinction  between  the  impart- 
ing in  ordination  ministerial  authority  and  ministerial  func- 
tion, or  between  ministerial  character  and  jurisdiction 
("Church  Unity,"  p.  154). 

The  following  precedents  for  additional  Episcopal  ordina- 
tion are  noteworthy: 

1.  The  Lutheran  theologian  Molanus,  as  we  have  al- 
ready observed  (p.  118),  proposed  that  for  the  sake  of 
reunion  the  Roman  bishops  should  confirm  the  Lutheran 
presbyters  without  in  the  slightest  degree  prejudicing  their 
previous  ordination. 

2.  In  England  in  1582  a  Scotch  presbyter,  John  Morri- 
son, applied  to  Archbishop  Grindal  for  licensure.  His 
request  was  granted,  and  license  was  given  in  this  form 
which  is  to  be  found  in  Strype's  "Life  and  Acts  of  Edmund 
Grindal,"  pp.  402,  596. 

A  license  to  administer  holy  things  throughout  the  prov- 
ince of  Canterbury  was  granted  by  Dr.  Aubrey  (who  now 
executed  the  office  of  Vicar  General)  to  one  John  Morrison, 
a  Scotchman,  who  had  received  his  Orders  in  Scotland,  ac- 
cording to  the  way  of  ordaining  Ministers  in  the  reformed 
Church  there.  Which  license,  because  it  was  somewhat 
unusual,  I  shall  here  set  down — Cum  tu  prxjatus  Johannes 
Morrison,  &c.  In  English  thus:  "Since  you  the  foresaid 
John  Morrison  about  five  years  past,  in  the  town  of  Garvet 
in  the  county  of  Lothian  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  were 
admitted   and   ordained   to   sacred   Orders   and   the   holy 

141 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

Ministry,  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  according  to  the  laud- 
able form  and  rite  of  the  reformed  Church  of  Scotland;  and 
since  the  congregation  of  that  county  of  Lothian  is  conform- 
able to  the  orthodox  faith  and  sincere  religion  now  received 
in  this  realm  of  England,  and  established  by  public  author- 
ity: we  therefore,  as  much  as  lies  in  us,  and  as  by  right  we 
may,  approving  and  ratifying  the  form  of  your  ordination 
and  preferment  [pmfectionis]  done  in  such  manner  afore- 
said, grant  to  you  a  licence  and  faculty,  with  the  consent 
and  express  command  of  the  most  reverend  Father  in  Christ 
the  Lord  Edmund  by  the  Divine  providence  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  to  us  signified,  that  in  such  Orders  by  you 
taken,  you  may,  and  have  power,  in  any  convenient  places 
in  and  throughout  the  whole  province  of  Canterbury,  to 
celebrate  divine  offices,  to  minister  the  Sacraments,  &c.  as 
much  as  in  us  lies,  and  we  may  de  jure,  and  as  far  as  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom  do  allow,  &c."  This  was  granted  April 
6.  The  exact  copy  whereof  I  have  transcribed  in  the 
Appendix. 

3.  The  ordination  per  saltum  of  16 10  already  mentioned 
(p.  140). 

4.  In  1634  John  Dury  received  additional  episcopal 
ordination,  without  renouncing  his  previous  presbyterial 
ordination,  in  the  cathedral  of  Exeter,  in  order  that  he 
might  prosecute  better  the  work  to  which  he  had  devoted 
himself  of  making  peace  among  the  Protestant  churches  for 
the  common  cause  of  Protestantism. 

5.  Ordination  of  Presbyterian  ministers  after  the  Res- 
toration by  Archbishop  Bramhall. 

When  some  of  his  clergy  were  found  to  have  orders  only 
from  Presbyterian  classes,  the  question  arose,  "Are  we  not 
ministers  of  the  gospel?"  To  this  Bramhall  replied,  "I  dis- 
pute not  the  value  of  your  ordination,  nor  those  acts  you 
have  exercised  by  virtue  of  it."  He  held  that  they  at  that 
time  had  come  under  the  law  of  a  national  church,  and 
could  not  have  preferment  or  receive  their  revenues  except 
in  a  legal  way.    Therefore  he  gave  them  additional  ordina- 

142 


HISTORICAL  PRECEDENTS  AND  OPINIONS 

tion.    In  one  instance  he  issued  to  a  Presbyterian  minister 
this  letter  of  orders: 

Not  destroying  his  former  orders,  nor  determining  their 
validity  or  invalidity,  but  only  supplying  what  the  canons 
of  the  English  Church  require,  and  providing  for  the  peace 
of  the  Church  that  occasion  of  schism  be  removed,  and  the 
conscience  of  the  faithful  be  assured  that  none  may  either 
doubt  of  his  ordination  or  be  averse  to  his  presbyterial  acts 
as  invalid  (Vol.  i,  p.  xxiv). 

6.  Leighton,  a  Scotch  presbyter,  having  been  appointed 
by  Charles  II  Archbishop  of  Scotland,  was  ordained  deacon 
and  priest,  and  then  consecrated  as  bishop.  Leighton 
thought  that  every  church  might  make  such  rules  of  ordina- 
tion as  they  pleased,  and  that  they  might  reordain  all  that 
came  to  them  from  every  other  church,  and  that  "the 
reordaining  a  priest  ordained  in  another  church  imported 
no  more  than  that  they  received  him  into  orders  according 
to  their  rules  and  did  not  infer  the  annulling  the  orders  he 
had  formerly  received  ("Burnet's  Own  Time,"  Vol.  i,  p. 
139  sq.). 

7.  Proposals  for  additional  ordination  by  John  Hum- 
phrey and  certain  Nonconformists  in  1678-80.  This  passage 
is  taken  from  a  pamphlet  with  this  title:  "The  Healing 
Paper,  or  a  Katholic  Receipt  for  Union  between  the  Mod- 
erate Bishop  and  sober  Nonconformists,  June,  1678."  It 
was  written  by  John  Humphrey  in  response  to  Stillingfleet. 

To  be  reordained  to  the  work  of  a  new  charge  I  am  fully 
persuaded  to  be  lawful.  ...  I  am  one  that  dare  not  give 
way  to  the  making  void  my  ministry  for  a  dozen  years  be- 
fore I  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop,  for  that  were  a  heinous 
crime  for  myself  (I  think)  to  do;  yet  will  I  be  content  as  to 
the  exercise  of  my  office  now  to  own  my  authority  from  him. 
I  was  a  minister  before  in  foro  Dei  &  Conscientice.  I  am 
made  a  minister  in  foro  Ecclesice  Anglicanx. 

Another  answer  from  the  same  author  was  made  in  1681, 

143 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

entitled  "The  Peaceable  Design  Renewed,"  from  which  the 
following  passage  is  taken: 

I  apprehend  that  such  men  as  are  most  considerate,  and 
intent  upon  the  interest  of  God,  in  what  they  seek,  do,  or 
did,  look  upon  either  of  such  bills  (i.e.  Comprehension  and 
Toleration)  as  no  other  than  an  English  Interim,  prepara- 
tive to  this  higher  Concord,  and  Union  of  the  Bishop  with 
the  Presbyters,  according  to  the  Primitive  Pattern  men- 
tioned (as  soon  as  more  mellow  opportunity  and  well-advised 
Piety  should  administer  unto  such  further  Perfection)  (p. 
29) .  We  may  understand  where  the  core  of  that  Evil  we  call 
Schism  is,  and  that  is  mainly  in  the  want  of  that  Love  and 
that  Care  which  the  members  owe  to  one  another.  .  .  .  And 
it  is  upon  the  Plea  of  the  Greater  Duty  that  the  Peaceable 
Design  doth  stand  (pp.  29,  32).* 

2.     CONCERNING  SACRAMENT  AND  ORDERS 

IN  these  citations  reference  has  been  made  to  questions 
concerning  the  validity  of  non-episcopal  ordination;  but 
underlying  these  discussions  is  the  more  fundamental  ques- 
tion of  the  self -validation  of  the  sacrament.  What  espe- 
cially is  the  grace  inherent  in  the  Eucharist?  And  what  are 
the  respective  relations  of  the  Church,  the  sacraments,  and 
the  ministerial  powers  and  organs  of  the  Church?  In 
suggesting  this  more  fundamental  discussion  (which  is  all 
that  our  present  limits  permit),  we  begin  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  teaching;  for  whatever  else  may  be  said,  that  is 
always  to  be  found  logically  consistent.  A  starting  point  for 
such  reconsideration  of  this  whole  divisive  matter  Protes- 
tants may  find  in  this  notable  but  too  much  overlooked 
declaration  of  Pope  Leo  XIII,  in  the  Bull  Apostolicce  Curice 
(September  13,  1896). 

*  Associated  with  Humphrey  was  one  named  Loeb,  the  others  who 
are  said  to  have  held  the  same  views  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain. 
These  two  rare  pamphlets  are  to  be  found,  one  in  the  Yale  and  the 
other  in  the  Harvard  library. 

144 


HISTORICAL  PRECEDENTS  AND  OPINIONS 

When  one  has  rightly  and  seriously  made  use  of  the  due 
form  and  matter  requisite  for  the  offering  or  conferring  of 
a  sacrament,  he  is  considered  by  the  fact  itself  to  do  what 
the  Church  does.  On  this  principle  rests  the  doctrine  which 
holds  that  to  be  a  true  sacrament  which  is  conferred  accord- 
ing to  the  Catholic  rite  by  the  ministry  of  a  heretic  or  an 
unbaptized  person. 

In  this  utterance  the  Pope  was  not  referring  to  baptism. 
The  context  shows  that  the  two  sacraments,  that  of  orders 
and  the  Eucharist,  were  under  consideration.  Had  the  word 
heretic  only  been  used,  the  statement  would  merely  have 
referred  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  which  was  maintained 
by  Augustine.  But  the  additional  word  conferred  by  the 
ministry  of  "an  unbaptized  person"  is  significant.  For  an 
unbaptized  person  has  no  orders  at  all.  A  Roman  Catholic 
canonist  says  that  this  would  be  understood  among  Catholics 
without  the  need  of  qualification,  in  accordance  with  the 
Roman  teaching  concerning  the  priesthood.  It  would  re- 
quire an  extensive  excursus  into  the  scholastic  theology  to 
show,  as  it  might  be  done,  how  this  principle,  which  is  so 
positively  affirmed  by  the  Pope,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the 
derivative  powers  of  ministry  which  are  canonically  con- 
fined to  the  priesthood.  But  with  that  we  are  not  now  con- 
cerned. It  is  with  this  fundamental  principle  of  the  inher- 
ent sanctity  of  a  sacrament  that  as  Protestants  we  are 
concerned.  Is  it  not  sound?  If  so,  may  it  not  be  for  us  a 
reconciling  principle?  Consider  further  these  two  points  in 
the  Roman  doctrine  in  relation  to  this  question,  (i)  The 
Council  of  Trent  declared: 

The  Eucharist  has  this  excellent  and  peculiar  thing  that 
the  other  sacraments  have  first  the  power  of  sanctifying 
when  one  uses  them,  whereas  in  the  Eucharist,  before  being 
used  there  is  the  Author  of  sanctity.  For  the  Apostles  had 
not  themselves  received  the  Eucharist  from  the  hand  of  the 
Lord,  when  he  nevertheless  affirmed  with  truth  that  to  be 
his  own  body  which  he  presented  (Sess.  13,  Ch.  iii.). 

145 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

(2)  The  priesthood  is  given  in,  and  its  institution  is 
derived  from  "the  institution  by  Christ  of  the  Holy  visible 
sacrifice  of  the  Eucharist"  (Sess.  23,  Ch.  i.).  The  several 
orders  of  the  priesthood  are  exercised  as  "suitable  to  the 
most  well-ordered  settlement  of  the  church  (Sess.  23,  Ch.  L). 
Manifestly  then  the  Roman  doctrine  does  not  make  the 
greater  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  in  itself  dependent  upon 
the  lesser  sacrament  of  orders.  The  point  here  to  be  noticed 
is  the  sequence  of  the  powers  and  organs  of  the  Church; 
viz.,  before  all,  first  the  Church;  secondly,  the  sacraments; 
thirdly,  the  powers  of  ministry;  and  fourthly,  the  differ- 
entiation of  orders.  The  Anglican  dictum  is  the  exact 
reversal  of  this  sequence,  viz.,  "where  no  bishop,  no  true 
priests  ordained;  where  no  priests,  no  sacraments;  where  no 
sacraments,  no  church."* 

This  pseudo-catholic  sequence  involves  a  double  non 
sequitur:  (1)  It  renders  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist 
dependent  upon  an  order  of  ministry,  which  it  does  not 
acknowledge  to  be  a  sacrament.  (2)  It  puts  the  first  last, 
and  the  last  first.  On  the  other  hand  the  Roman  Catholic 
sequence  is  logical,  developmental,  and  historical.  The 
pseudo-catholic  principle  is  from  the  beginning  a  principle 
of  limitation;  the  Roman  doctrine  is  primarily  a  principle 
of  comprehension. 

We  raise,  therefore,  to  leave  open  for  fundamental  con- 
sideration, this  inquiry:  Is  not  this  doctrine  of  the  validity 
of  a  sacrament,  as  thus  broadly  affirmed  by  Rome,  a  Chris- 
tian principle?  Does  it  not  offer  a  broad  basis  for  inter- 
communion among  all  Protestant  churches? 

*  This  dictum  was  so  expressed  and  controverted  by  Bishop  Croft, 
in  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "The  Naked  Truth,"  in  1675.  He  said, 
"Wherefore  I  beseech  you  be  not  too  positive  in  this  point  lest  thereby 
you  do  not  only  condemn  all  the  reformed  churches,  but  the  scripture 
and  St.  Paul  also."    Quoted  by  Mason,  op.  cit.,  p.  368. 


146 


IX 
APPENDIX 

i.     THE  LAMBETH  QUADRILATERAL 

FIRST  submitted  by  the  House  of  Bishops  at  Chicago, 
in  1886,  and  subsequently  adopted  by  the  Lambeth 
Conference  of  Anglican  Bishops  in  1888: 
1.  The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
as  the  revealed  Word  of  God.  2.  The  Apostles'  Creed  as  the 
baptismal  Symbol,  and  the  Nicene  Creed  as  the  sufficient 
statement  of  the  Christian  faith.  3.  The  two  Sacraments — 
Baptism  and  the  Supper  of  the  Lord — ministered  with  un- 
failing use  of  Christ's  words  of  institution  and  of  the  ele- 
ments ordained  by  him.  4.  The  Historic  Episcopate,  locally 
adapted  in  the  methods  of  its  administration  to  the  varying 
needs  of  the  nations  and  peoples  called  of  God  into  the 
Unity  of  His  Church. 

2.     FOR  A  WORLD  CONFERENCE 

AT  the  last  Lambeth  Conference,  in  1908,  the  Anglican 
b  Bishops  in  an  Encyclical  Letter  declared:  "We  must 
consequently  desire  not  compromise,  but  comprehension,  not 
uniformity  but  unity."  A  resolution  was  adopted  by  them 
recommending  that  "meetings  of  ministers  and  laymen  of 
different  Christian  bodies  be  held  at  different  centres  to 
promote  a  cordial  mutual  understanding."  In  response  to 
that  action  the  General  Conference  of  the  Congregational 
Churches  of  Connecticut,  at  its  meeting  in  November  of 
the  same  year,  appointed  a  committee  to  further  such  con- 
ferences, and  to  report  at  its  next  annual  meeting  concerning 

147 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

the  relations  of  the  different  Christian  bodies.  Pursuant  to 
that  resolution  an  informal  preliminary  conference  of  the 
committee  with  some  leading  representatives  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  was  held  at  Hartford,  May  5,  1909,  at  which  it 
is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  late  Dr.  William  R.  Hunting- 
ton was  present,  and  gave  us  what  were  almost  his  last 
words  of  counsel  and  courage  in  his  ministry  for  "The  Peace 
of  the  Church."  As  a  result  of  this  interchange  of  views  cer- 
tain methods  of  approach  towards  unity  were  suggested  as 
possible,  among  them  such  further  mutual  action  as  might 
be  "necessary  to  render  the  existing  ministry  of  other 
churches  regular  according  to  the  Episcopal  order,  and  pos- 
sessed of  full  authorization  to  minister  the  sacrament  in 
Episcopal  churches." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  National  Council  of  Congregational 
Churches  in  19 10,  the  next  after  the  Lambeth  Conference,  a 
resolution  was  passed  by  a  rising  vote  in  response  to  the 
Encyclical  of  the  Anglican  bishops  containing  in  part  these 
words:  "We  on  our  part  would  seek,  so  much  as  lieth  in  us, 
for  the  unity  and  peace  of  the  whole  household  of  faith:  and 
forgetting  not  that  our  forefathers  whose  orderly  ordained 
ministry  is  our  inheritance,  were  not  willingly  separatists, 
we  would  most  loyally  contribute  the  precious  things  of 
which  we  as  Congregationalists  are  stewards  to  the  Church 
of  the  future;  therefore  the  Council  would  put  on  record  its 
appreciation  of  the  spirit  and  its  concurrence  in  the  purpose 
of  this  expression  of  the  Lambeth  Conference,  and  voice  its 
earnest  hope  for  closer  fellowship  with  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  work  and  worship."  The  Council  appointed  a  special 
committee  "to  consider  any  overtures  that  may  come  to  our 
denomination  as  a  result  of  these  conferences." 

By  a  singular  and  auspicious  coincidence  this  action  of 
the  Congregational  Council  was  received  by  the  Episcopal 
General  Convention,  which  was  then  in  session,  just  after  it 
had  taken  its  notable  action  to  appoint  a  "Joint  Commission 
to  arrange  for  a  World  Conference  on  Faith  and  Order." 

148 


APPENDIX 

Almost  simultaneously  the  Disciples  of  Christ  had  ap- 
pointed a  Commission  on  Unity,  and  soon  after  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  Alliance  of  Reformed  Churches  hold- 
ing the  Presbyterian  System  signified  their  approval.  The 
preparatory  work  necessary  to  lay  this  proposal  of  a  World 
Conference  before  Christian  communions  throughout  the 
world  was  approaching  its  conclusion,  and  plans  for  con- 
vening the  World  Conference  were  being  considered — and 
then  came  the  war. 

The  Episcopal  Commission,  soon  after  their  appointment, 
had  sent  a  deputation  to  England  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  the  Church  of  England.  The  two  archbishops  appointed 
a  committee  on  the  World  Conference  as  a  result  of  this 
visitation.  Subsequently  the  Episcopal  and  other  commis- 
sions associated  with  them  sent  a  deputation  of  non-episco- 
pal clergymen  to  England  to  secure  the  support  of  the  Non- 
conformist churches.  They  received  a  gracious  invitation 
from  the  Archbishops'  Committee  to  meet  with  them — the 
first  conference  perhaps  that  has  been  held  between  official 
representatives  of  the  Church  of  England  and  non-episcopal 
communions  since  Tillotson's  time,  two  hundred  and  more 
years  ago.  As  a  further  and  consequential  result  of  this 
succession  of  steps,  conferences  have  since  been  held  at  dif- 
ferent intervals  between  the  Archbishops'  Committee  and 
representatives  of  the  Nonconformist  churches;  in  191 5  they 
published  through  a  sub-committee  the  following  statement 
indicating  a  large  measure  of  substantial  agreement  and  also 
affording  material  for  further  investigation  and  considera- 
tion. 


149 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

3.     FIRST  INTERIM   STATEMENT  OF  JOINT 

ANGLICAN  AND  NONCONFORMIST 

COMMITTEE 

PART    I.      A    STATEMENT    OF    AGREEMENT    ON 
MATTERS    OF    FAITH 

WE,  who  belong  to  different  Christian  Communions, 
and  are  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  questions  of 
Faith  and  Order,  desire  to  affirm  our  agreement  upon  certain 
foundation  truths  as  the  basis  of  a  spiritual  and  rational 
creed  and  life  for  all  mankind.    We  express  them  as  follows: 

(1)  As  Christians  we  believe  that,  while  there  is  some 
knowledge  of  God  to  be  found  among  all  races  of  men 
and  some  measure  of  divine  grace  and  help  is  present  to 
all,  a  unique,  progressive  and  redemptive  revelation  of 
Himself  was  given  by  God  to  the  Hebrew  people  through 
the  agency  of  inspired  prophets,  "in  many  parts  and  in 
many  manners,"  and  that  this  revelation  reaches  its  culmi- 
nation and  completeness  in  One  Who  is  more  than  a 
prophet,  Who  is  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God,  our  Saviour 
and  our  Lord,  Jesus  Christ. 

(2)  This  distinctive  revelation,  accepted  as  the  word 
of  God,  is  the  basis  of  the  life  of  the  Christian  Church  and 
is  intended  to  be  the  formative  influence  upon  the  mind 
and  character  of  the  individual  believer. 

(3)  This  word  of  God  is  contained  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  and  constitutes  the  permanent  spiritual  value 
of  the  Bible. 

(4)  The  root  and  centre  of  this  revelation,  as  intel- 
lectually interpreted,  consists  in  a  positive  and  highly 
distinctive  doctrine  of  God — His  nature,  character  and 
will.  From  this  doctrine  of  God  follows  a  certain  sequence 
of  doctrines  concerning  creation,  human  nature  and  des- 

150 


APPENDIX 

tiny,  sin,  individual  and  racial,  redemption  through  the 
incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  and  His  atoning  death  and 
resurrection,  the  mission  and  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  Holy  Trinity,  the  Church,  the  last  things,  and  Chris- 
tian life  and  duty,  individual  and  social:  all  these  cohere 
with  and  follow  from  this  doctrine  of  God. 

(5)  Since  Christianity  offers  a  historical  revelation  of 
God,  the  coherence  and  sequence  of  Christian  doctrine 
involve  a  necessary  synthesis  of  idea  and  fact  such  as  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  New  Testament  and  in  the  Apostles' 
and  Nicene  Creeds:  and  these  Creeds  both  in  their  state- 
ments of  historical  fact  and  in  their  statements  of  doctrine 
affirm  essential  elements  of  the  Christian  faith,  as  con- 
tained in  Scripture,  which  the  Church  could  never  aban- 
don without  abandoning  its  basis  in  the  word  of  God. 

(6)  We  hold  that  there  is  no  contradiction  between 
the  acceptance  of  the  miracles  recited  in  the  Creeds  and 
the  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  order  in  nature  as  as- 
sumed in  scientific  inquiry,  and  we  hold  equally  that  the 
acceptance  of  miracles  is  not  forbidden  by  the  historical 
evidence  candidly  and  impartially  investigated  by  critical 
methods. 


PART  II.    A  STATEMENT  OF  AGREEMENT  ON 
MATTERS  RELATING  TO  ORDER 

With  thankfulness  to  the  Head  of  the  Church  for  the 
spirit  of  unity  He  has  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  we  go  on  to 
express  our  common  conviction  on  the  following  matters: 

(1)  That  it  is  the  purpose  of  our  Lord  that  believers 
in  Him  should  be,  as  in  the  beginning  they  were,  one 
visible  society — His  body  with  many  members — which 
in  every  age  and  place  should  maintain  the  communion 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

of  saints  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  and  should  be  capable 
of  a  common  witness  and  a  common  activity. 

(2)  That  our  Lord  ordained,  in  addition  to  the  preach- 
ing of  His  Gospel,  the  Sacraments  of  Baptism  and  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  as  not  only  declaratory  symbols,  but  also 
effective  channels  of  His  grace  and  gifts  for  the  salvation 
and  sanctification  of  men,  and  that  these  Sacraments  being 
essentially  social  ordinances  were  intended  to  affirm  the 
obligation  of  corporate  fellowship  as  well  as  individual 
confession  of  Him. 

(3)  That  our  Lord,  in  addition  to  the  bestowal  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  a  variety  of  gifts  and  graces  upon  the 
whole  Church,  also  conferred  upon  it  by  the  self-same 
Spirit  a  Ministry  of  manifold  gifts  and  functions,  to  main- 
tain the  unity  and  continuity  of  its  witness  and  work. 


PART  III.     A  STATEMENT  OF  DIFFERENCES  IN 

RELATION  TO  MATTERS  OF  ORDER  WHICH 

REQUIRE  FURTHER  STUDY  AND 

DISCUSSION 

Fidelity  to  our  convictions  and  sincerity  in  their  expres- 
sion compel  us  to  recognize  that  there  still  remain  differences 
in  respect  of  these  matters: 

(1)  As  regards  the  nature  of  this  visible  Society,  how 
far  it  involves  uniformity  or  allows  variety  in  polity,  creed 
and  worship. 

(2)  As  regards  the  Sacraments — the  conditions,  objec- 
tive and  subjective,  in  their  ministration  and  reception  on 
which  their  validity  depends. 

(3)  As  regards  the  Ministry — whether  it  derives  its 
authority  through  an  episcopal  or  a  presbyteral  succession 
or  through  the  community  of  believers  or  by  a  combina- 
tion of  these. 

152 


APPENDIX 
We  desire  to  report  accordingly  and  we  submit: 

( i )  That  this  report  be  made  known  to  the  public. 

(2)  That  further  enquiry  should  be  directed  to  exam- 
ining the  implications  in  the  matter  agreed,  and  to  the 
possibility  of  lessening  or  removing  the  differences  by 
explanation. 

(Signed) 

G.  W.  Bath:  &  Well:  (Chairman). 
E.  Winton:  J.  Scott  Lidgett. 

C.  Oxon:  J.  H.  Shakespeare. 

W.  T.  Davison.  C.  Anderson  Scott. 

A.  E.  Garvie.  Eugene  Stock. 

Tissington  Tatlow  (Hon.  Sec). 

February,  19 16. 


4.     THE  SECOND  INTERIM  STATEMENT 

IN  further  pursuit  of  the  main  purpose,  the  sub-committee 
was  reappointed  and  enlarged.  After  mature  and  pro- 
longed consideration  it  is  hereby  issuing  its  Second  Interim 
Report  under  the  direction  of  the  Conference  as  a  whole, 
but  on  the  understanding  that  the  members  of  the  sub- 
committee alone  are  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  substance 
of  the  document. 

In  issuing  our  Second  Interim  Report  we  desire  to  pre- 
vent possible  misconceptions  regarding  our  intentions.  We 
are  engaged,  not  in  formulating  any  basis  of  reunion  for 
Christendom,  but  in  preparing  for  the  consideration  of  such 
a  basis  at  the  projected  Conference  on  Faith  and  Order.  We 
are  exploring  the  ground  in  order  to  discover  the  ways  of 
approach  to  the  questions  to  be  considered  that  seem  most 
promising  and  hopeful.  In  our  first  Report  we  were  not 
attempting  to  draw  up  a  creed  for  subscription,  but  desired 
to  affirm  our  agreement  upon  certain  foundation  truths  as 

153 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

the  basis  of  a  spiritual  and  rational  creed  and  life  for  all 
mankind  in  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord.  It  was  a  matter  of 
profound  gratitude  to  God  that  we  found  ourselves  so  far  in 
agreement.  No  less  grateful  were  we  that  even  as  regards 
matters  relating  to  Order  we  were  able  to  hold  certain 
common  convictions,  though  in  regard  to  these  we  were 
forced  to  recognize  differences  of  interpretation.  We  felt 
deeply,  however,  that  we  could  not  let  the  matter  rest  there ; 
but  that  we  must  in  conference  seek  to  understand  one 
another  better,  in  order  to  discover  if  even  on  the  questions 
on  which  we  seemed  to  differ  most  we  might  not  come  nearer 
to  one  another. 

i.  In  all  our  discussions  we  were  guided  by  two  con- 
victions from  which  we  could  not  escape,  and  would  not, 
even  if  we  could. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  our  Lord  that  believers  in  Him 
should  be  one  visible  society,  and  this  unity  is  essential  to 
the  purpose  of  Christ  for  His  Church  and  for  its  effective 
witness  and  work  in  the  world.  The  conflict  among  Chris- 
tian nations  has  brought  home  to  us  with  a  greater  poignancy 
the  disastrous  results  of  the  divisions  which  prevail  among 
Christians,  inasmuch  as  they  have  hindered  that  growth  of 
mutual  understanding  which  it  should  be  the  function  of  the 
Church  to  foster,  and  because  a  Church  which  is  itself 
divided  cannot  speak  effectively  to  a  divided  world. 

The  visible  unity  of  believers  which  answers  to  our  Lord's 
purpose  must  have  its  source  and  sanction,  not  in  any  human 
arrangements,  but  in  the  will  of  the  One  Father,  manifested 
in  the  Son,  and  effected  through  the  operation  of  the  Spirit; 
and  it  must  express  and  maintain  the  fellowship  of  His 
people  with  one  another  in  Him.  Thus  the  visible  unity 
of  the  Body  of  Christ  is  not  adequately  expressed  in  the 
co-operation  of  the  Christian  Churches  for  moral  influence 
and  social  service,  though  such  co-operation  might  with  great 
advantage  be  carried  much  further  than  it  is  at  present;  it 
could  only  be  fully  realized  through  community  of  worship, 

154 


APPENDIX 

faith,  and  order,  including  common  participation  in  the 
Lord's  Supper.  This  would  be  quite  compatible  with  a  rich 
diversity  in  life  and  worship. 

2.  In  suggesting  the  conditions  under  which  this  visible 
unity  might  be  realized  we  desire  to  set  aside  for  the  present 
the  abstract  discussion  of  the  origin  of  the  Episcopate 
historically,  or  its  authority  doctrinally;  and  to  secure  for 
that  discussion  when  it  comes,  as  it  must  come,  at  the 
Conference,  an  atmosphere  congenial  not  to  controversy, 
but  to  agreement.  This  can  be  done  only  by  facing  the 
actual  situation  in  order  to  discover  if  any  practical  proposals 
could  be  made  that  would  bring  the  Episcopal  and  Non- 
Episcopal  Communions  nearer  to  one  another.  Further,  the 
proposals  are  offered  not  as  a  basis  for  immediate  action, 
but  for  the  sympathetic  and  generous  consideration  of  all 
Churches. 

The  first  fact  which  we  agree  to  acknowledge  is  that  the 
position  of  Episcopacy  in  the  greater  part  of  Christendom, 
as  the  recognized  organ  of  the  unity  and  continuity  of  the 
Church,  is  such  that  the  members  of  the  Episcopal  Churches 
ought  not  to  be  expected  to  abandon  it  in  assenting  to  any 
basis  of  reunion. 

The  second  fact  which  we  agree  to  acknowledge  is  that 
there  are  a  number  of  Christian  Churches  not  accepting  the 
Episcopal  order  which  have  been  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
His  work  of  enlightening  the  world,  converting  sinners,  and 
perfecting  saints.  They  came  into  being  through  reaction 
from  grave  abuses  in  the  Church  at  the  time  of  their  origin, 
and  were  led  in  response  to  fresh  apprehensions  of  divine 
truth  to  give  expression  to  certain  types  of  Christian  ex- 
perience, aspiration,  and  fellowship,  and  to  secure  rights  of 
the  Christian  people  which  had  been  neglected  or  denied. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  if  the  visible  unity  so  much  de- 
sired within  the  Church,  and  so  necessary  for  the  testimony 
and  influence  of  the  Church  in  the  world,  is  ever  to  be  real- 
ized, it  is  imperative  that  the  Episcopal  and  Non-Episcopal 

155 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

Communions  shall  approach  one  another,  not  by  the  method 
of  human  compromise,  but  in  correspondence  with  God's 
own  way  of  reconciling  differences  in  Christ  Jesus.  What 
we  desire  to  see  is  not  grudging  concession,  but  a  willing 
acceptance  for  the  common  enrichment  of  the  united  Church 
of  the  wealth  distinctive  of  each. 

Looking  as  frankly  and  as  widely  as  possible  at  the  whole 
situation,  we  desire,  with  a  due  sense  of  responsibility,  to 
submit  for  the  serious  consideration  of  all  the  parts  of  a 
divided  Christendom  what  seem  to  us  the  necessary  condi- 
tions of  any  possibility  of  reunion: 

i.  That  continuity  with  the  historic  Episcopate  should 
be  effectively  preserved. 

2.  That  in  order  that  the  rights  and  responsibilities  of 
the  whole  Christian  community  in  the  government  of  the 
Church  may  be  adequately  recognized,  the  Episcopate  should 
reassume  a  constitutional  form,  both  as  regards  the  method 
of  the  election  of  the  bishop,  as  by  clergy  and  people,  and 
the  method  of  government  after  election.  It  is  perhaps 
necessary  that  we  should  call  to  mind  that  such  was  the 
primitive  ideal  and  practice  of  Episcopacy  and  it  so  remains 
in  many  Episcopal  Communions  today. 

3.  That  acceptance  of  the  fact  of  Episcopacy,  and  not 
any  theory  as  to  its  character,  should  be  all  that  is  asked 
for.  We  think  that  this  may  be  the  more  easily  taken  for 
granted  as  the  acceptance  of  any  such  theory  is  not  now  re- 
quired of  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England.  It  would  no 
doubt  be  necessary  before  any  arrangement  for  corporate  re- 
union could  be  made  to  discuss  the  exact  functions  which  it 
may  be  agreed  to  recognize  as  belonging  to  the  Episcopate, 
but  we  think  this  can  be  left  to  the  future. 

The  acceptance  of  Episcopacy  on  these  terms  should 
not  involve  any  Christian  community  in  the  necessity  of 
disowning  its  past,  but  should  enable  all  to  maintain  the 
continuity  of  their  witness  and  influence  as  heirs  and  trustees 
of  types  of  Christian  thought,  life,  and  order,  not  only  of 

156 


APPENDIX 

value  to  themselves  but  of  value  to  the  Church  as  a  whole. 
Accordingly  we  hoped  and  desired  that  each  of  these  Com- 
munions would  bring  its  own  distinctive  contribution,  not 
only  to  the  common  life  of  the  Church,  but  also  to  its  meth- 
ods of  organization,  and  that  all  that  is  true  in  the  expe- 
rience and  testimony  of  the  uniting  Communions  would  be 
conserved  to  the  Church.  Within  such  a  recovered  unity  we 
should  agree  in  claiming  that  the  legitimate  freedom  of 
prophetic  ministry  should  be  carefully  preserved;  and  in 
anticipating  that  many  customs  and  institutions  which  have 
been  developed  in  separate  communities  may  be  preserved 
within  the  larger  unity  of  which  they  have  come  to  form  a 
part. 

We  have  carefully  avoided  any  discussion  of  the  merits 
of  any  polity,  or  any  advocacy  of  one  form  in  preference 
to  another.  All  we  have  attempted  is  to  show  how  reunion 
might  be  brought  about,  the  conditions  of  the  existing 
Churches,  and  the  convictions  held  regarding  these  questions 
by  their  members,  being  what  they  are.  As  we  are  persuaded 
that  it  is  on  these  lines  and  these  alone  that  the  subject  can 
be  approached  with  any  prospect  of  any  measure  of  agree- 
ment, we  do  earnestly  ask  the  members  of  the  Churches  to 
which  we  belong  to  examine  carefully  our  conclusions  and 
the  facts  on  which  they  are  based,  and  to  give  them  all  the 
weight  that  they  deserve. 

In  putting  forward  these  proposals  we  do  so  because  it 
must  be  felt  by  all  good-hearted  Christians  as  an  intolerable 
burden  to  find  themselves  permanently  separated  in  respect 
of  religious  worship  and  communion  from  those  in  whose 
characters  and  lives  they  recognize  the  surest  evidences  of 
the  indwelling  Spirit;  and  because,  as  becomes  increasingly 
evident,  it  is  only  as  a  body,  praying,  taking  counsel,  and 
acting  together,  that  the  Church  can  hope  to  appeal  to  men 
as  the  Body  of  Christ,  that  is,  Christ's  visible  organ  and 
instrument  in  the  world,  in  which  the  Spirit  of  brotherhood 
and  of  love  as  wide  as  humanity  finds  effective  expression. 

157 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

(Signed) 

G.  W.  Bath  and  Wells:  W.  B.  Selbie. 

(Chairman) .  J.  H.  Shakespeare. 

E.  Winton:  Eugene  Stock. 

C.  Oxon:  William  Temple. 

W.  T.  Davison.  Tissington  Tatlow, 

A.  E.  Garvie.  (Hon.  Sec). 

H.  L.  Goudge.  H.  G.  Wood. 
J.  Scott  Lidgett. 

March,  191 8. 

5.    PROPOSALS  FOR  AN  APPROACH  TOWARD 
UNITY  BY  A  CONFERENCE  OF  EPISCO- 
PALIANS AND  CONGREGATIONALISTS 

THE  undersigned,  members  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  and  of  Congregational  Churches,  with- 
out any  official  sanction  and  purely  on  our  private  initiative, 
have  conferred  with  each  other,  partly  by  correspondence 
and  partly  by  meeting,  with  a  view  to  discover  a  method 
by  which  a  practical  approach  towards  making  clear  and 
evident  the  visible  unity  of  believers  in  our  Lord  according 
to  His  will,  might  be  made.  For  there  can  be  no  question 
that  such  is  our  Lord's  will.  The  Church  itself,  in  the  midst 
of  its  divisions,  bears  convincing  witness  to  it.  "There  is 
one  Body  and  one  Spirit,  one  Lord,  one  Faith,  one  Baptism." 
There  has  never  been,  there  can  never  be,  more  than  one 
Body  or  one  Baptism.  On  this  we  are  agreed.  There  is 
one  fellowship  of  the  Baptized,  made  one  by  grace,  and  in 
every  case  by  the  self-same  grace.  And  the  unity  given  and 
symbolized  by  Baptism  is  in  its  very  nature  visible. 

We  are  agreed  that  it  is  our  Lord's  purpose  that  believers 
in  Him  should  be  one  visible  society.  Into  such  a  society, 
which  we  recognize  as  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  they  are 
initiated  by  Baptism;  whereby  they  are  admitted  to  fellow- 

158 


APPENDIX 

ship  with  Him  and  with  one  another.  The  unity  which  is 
essential  to  his  Church's  effective  witness  and  work  in  the 
world  must  express  and  maintain  this  fellowship.  It  can- 
not be  fully  realized  without  community  of  worship,  faith, 
and  order,  including  common  participation  in  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Such  unity  would  be  compatible  with  a  rich  diver- 
sity in  life  and  worship. 

We  have  not  discussed  the  origin  of  the  episcopate  his- 
torically or  its  authority  doctrinally;  but  we  agree  to  ac- 
knowledge that  the  recognized  position  of  the  episcopate  in 
the  greater  part  of  Christendom  as  the  normal  nucleus  of 
the  Church's  ministry  and  as  the  organ  of  the  unity  and 
continuity  of  the  Church  is  such  that  the  members  of  the 
episcopal  Churches  ought  not  to  be  expected  to  abandon  it 
in  assenting  to  any  basis  of  reunion. 

We  also  agree  to  acknowledge  that  Christian  Churches 
not  accepting  the  episcopal  order  have  been  used  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  his  work  of  enlightening  the  world,  convert- 
ing sinners,  and  perfecting  saints.  They  came  into  being 
through  reactions  from  grave  abuses  in  the  Church  at  the 
time  of  their  origin,  and  were  led  in  response  to  fresh  appre- 
hensions of  divine  truth  to  give  expression  to  certain  neces- 
sary and  permanent  types  of  Christian  experience,  aspira- 
tion and  fellowship,  and  to  secure  rights  of  Christian  people 
which  had  been  neglected  or  denied. 

No  Christian  community  is  involved  in  the  necessity  of 
disowning  its  past;  but  it  should  bring  its  own  distinctive 
contribution  hot  only  to  the  common  life  of  the  Church, 
but  also  to  its  methods  of  organization.  Many  customs  and 
institutions  which  have  been  developed  in  separate  communi- 
ties may  be  preserved  within  the  larger  unity.  What  we 
desire  to  see  is  not  grudging  concession,  but  a  willing 
acceptance  of  the  treasures  of  each  for  the  common  enrich- 
ment of  the  united  Church.* 

*  These  sentences  are  adopted  in  part  from  the  English  Interim 
statement. 

!59 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

To  give  full  effect  to  these  principles  in  relation  to  the 
churches  to  which  we  respectively  belong  requires  some 
form  of  corporate  union  between  them.  We  greatly  desire 
such  corporate  union.  We  also  are  conscious  of  the  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  bringing  it  about,  including  the  neces- 
sity for  corporate  action,  even  with  complete  good  will  on 
both  sides.  In  this  situation  we  believe  that  a  practical  ap- 
proach toward  eventual  union  may  be  made  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  intercommunion  in  particular  instances.  It  is 
evident  to  us  that  corporate  union  between  bodies  whose 
members  have  become  so  related  will  thereby  be  facilitated. 
Mutual  understanding  and  sympathy  will  strongly  reinforce 
the  desire  to  be  united  in  a  common  faith  and  order,  and  will 
make  clearer  how  the  respective  contributions  of  each  com- 
munity can  best  be  made  available  to  all. 

We  recognize  as  a  fact,  without  discussing  whether  it 
is  based  upon  sound  foundations,  that  in  the  episcopal 
Churches  an  apprehension  exists  that  if  episcopally  con- 
ferred orders  were  added  to  the  authority  which  non-episco- 
pal ministers  have  received  from  their  own  communions, 
such  orders  might  not  be  received  and  used  in  all  cases  in 
the  sense  or  with  the  intention  with  which  they  are  con- 
ferred. Upon  this  point  there  ought  to  be  no  room  for 
doubt.  The  sense  or  intention  in  which  any  particular  order 
of  the  ministry  is  conferred  or  accepted  is  the  sense  or  inten- 
tion in  which  it  is  held  in  the  Universal  Church.  In  con- 
ferring or  in  accepting  such  ordination  neither  the  bishop 
ordaining  nor  the  minister  ordained  should  be  understood  to 
impugn  thereby  the  efficacy  of  the  minister's  previous 
ministry. 

The  like  principle  applies  to  the  ministration  of  sacra- 
ments. The  minister  acts  not  merely  as  the  representative 
of  the  particular  congregation  then  present,  but  in  a  larger 
sense  he  represents  the  Church  Universal;  and  his  inten- 
tion and  meaning  should  be  our  Lord's  intention  and  mean- 
ing as  delivered  to  and  held  by  the  Catholic  Church.    To 

1 60 


APPENDIX 

this  end  such  sacramental  matter  and  form  should  be  used 
as  shall  exhibit  the  intention  of  the  Church. 

When  communion  has  been  established  between  the  or- 
daining bishop  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  the  ordained 
minister  of  another  communion,  appropriate  measures  ought 
to  be  devised  to  maintain  it  by  participating  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  by  mutual  counsel  and  co- 
operation. 

We  are  not  unmindful  that  occasions  may  arise  when  it 
might  become  necessary  to  take  cognizance  of  supposed 
error  of  faith  or  of  conduct,  and  suitable  provision  ought  to 
be  made  for  such  cases. 

In  view  of  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  law  and  prac- 
tice of  the  Episcopal  Church  upon  its  bishops  with  regard 
to  ordination,  and  the  necessity  of  obtaining  the  approval 
of  the  General  Convention  of  the  Episcopal  Church  to  the 
project  we  have  devised,  a  form  of  canonical  sanction  has 
been  prepared  which  is  appended  as  a  schedule  to  this  state- 
ment. We  who  are  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church  are 
prepared  to  recommend  its  enactment.  We  who  are  mem- 
bers of  Congregational  Churches  regard  it  as  a  wise  basis 
upon  which  in  the  interests  of  Church  unity,  and  without 
sacrifice  on  either  side,  the  supplementary  ordination  herein 
contemplated  might  be  accepted. 

It  is  our  conviction  that  such  procedure  as  we  here  out- 
line is  in  accordance,  as  far  as  it  goes,  with  our  Lord's  pur- 
poses for  his  Church;  and  our  fond  hope  is  that  it  would 
contribute  to  heal  the  Church's  divisions.  In  the  mission 
field  it  might  prove  of  great  value  in  uniting  the  work.  In 
small  communities  it  might  put  an  end  to  the  familiar 
scandal  of  more  churches  than  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
people  require.  In  the  army  and  navy,  chaplains  so  or- 
dained could  minister  acceptably  to  the  adherents  of  Chris- 
tian bodies  who  feel  compunctions  about  the  regularity  of 
a  non-episcopal  ministry.  In  all  places  an  example  of  a 
practical  approach  to  Christian  unity,  with  the  recognition 

161 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

of  diversities  in  organization  and  in  worship,  would  be  held 
up  before  the  world.  The  will  to  unity  would  be  strength- 
ened, prejudices  would  be  weakened,  and  the  way  would 
become  open  in  the  light  of  experience  to  bring  about  a 
more  complete  organic  unity  of  Christian  Churches. 

While  this  plan  is  the  result  of  conference  in  which  mem- 
bers of  only  one  denomination  of  non-episcopal  Churches 
have  taken  part,  it  is  comprehensive  enough  to  include  in  its 
scope  ministers  of  all  other  non-episcopal  communions;  and 
we  earnestly  invite  their  sympathetic  consideration  and  con- 
currence. 

New  York,  March  12,  19 19. 


Boyd  Vincent,  Bishop  of 
Southern  Ohio 

Philip  M.  Rhinelander, 
Bishop  of  Pennsylvania 

William  H.  Day,  Moder- 
ator of  Congregational  Na- 
tional Council 

Hubert  C.  Herring,  Secre- 
tary of  National  Council 

Wm.  Cabell  Brown,  Bishop 
of  Virginia 

Hughell  Fosbroke,  Dean 
of  the  Gen.  Theol.  Semi- 
nary 

Edmund  S.  Rousmaniere, 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral, Boston 

William  T.  Manning,  Rec- 
tor of  Trinity  Church, 
New  York 


Charles  L.  Slattery,  Rec- 
tor of  Grace  Church,  New 
York 

George  Craig  Stewart, 
Rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Evanston,  III. 

Howard  B.  St.  George, 
Professor  in  Nashotah 
Seminary 

Francis  Lynde  Stetson 

Robert  H.  Gardiner 

George  Zabriskie,  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York 

Hon.  Sec,  23  Gramercy 
Park,  New  York 

Charles  F.  Carter,  Chair- 
man of  Ex.  Committee  of 
National  Council 


162 


APPENDIX 

Williston  Walker,  of  the  Raymond  Calkins,  Chair- 
Commission  on  Organiza-  man  of  Congregational 
Hon  Commission  on  Unity 

Robert  S.  Smith,  of  Com-  Arthur  F.  Pratt,  Sec.  of 

mission  on  Unity  Commission  on  Unity 

William    E.    Barton,    of  William  T.  McElveen,  of 

Commission  on  Organiza-  Commission  on  Unity 

tton  Newman  Smyth,  of  Com- 

Nehemiah    Boynton,    Ex.  mission  on  Unity 

Moderator     of    National  Hon.  Sec,   54   Trumbull 

Council  Street,  New  Haven ,  Conn. 


SCHEDULE 

Form  of  Proposed  Canon 

§  I.  In  case  any  minister  who  has  not  received  episcopal 
ordination  shall  desire  to  be  ordained  by  a  Bishop  of  this 
Church  to  the  Diaconate  and  to  the  Priesthood  without 
giving  up  or  denying  his  membership  or  his  ministry  in  the 
Communion  to  which  he  belongs,  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese 
or  Missionary  District  in  which  he  lives,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Standing  Committee  or  the  Council  of 
Advice,  may  confirm  and  ordain  him. 

§  II.  The  minister  desiring  to  be  so  ordained  shall  satisfy 
the  Bishop  that  he  has  resided  in  the  United  States  at  least 
one  year;  that  he  has  been  duly  baptized  with  water  in  the 
name  of  the  Trinity;  that  he  holds  the  historic  faith  of  the 
Church  as  contained  in  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  the  Nicene 
Creed;  that  there  is  no  sufficient  objections  on  grounds 
physical,  mental,  moral  or  spiritual;  and  that  the  ecclesias- 
tical authority  to  which  he  is  subject  in  the  Communion  to 
which  he  belongs  consents  to  such  ordination. 

§  III.  At  the  time  of  his  ordination  the  person  to  be 
ordained  shall  subscribe  and  make  in  the  presence  of  the 

163 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

Bishop  a  declaration  that  he  believes  the  Holy  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word  of  God  and 
to  contain  all  things  necessary  to  salvation;  that  in  the  min- 
istration of  Baptism  he  will  unfailingly  baptize  with  water 
in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  and  (if  he  is  being  ordained  to  the  Priesthood)  that 
in  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  he  will  invariably 
use  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine,  and  will  include  in  the 
service  the  words  and  acts  of  our  Lord  in  the  institution  of 
the  Sacrament,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  (unless  one  of  these 
Creeds  has  been  used  in  the  service  immediately  preceding 
the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion)  the  Apostles',  or  the 
Nicene  Creed  as  the  symbol  of  the  faith  of  the  Holy  Catho- 
lic Church;  that  when  thereto  invited  by  the  Bishop  of  this 
Church  having  jurisdiction  in  the  place  where  he  lives,  he 
will  (unless  unavoidably  prevented)  meet  with  such  Bishop 
for  Communion  and  for  counsel  and  co-operation;  and  that 
he  will  hold  himself  answerable  to  the  Bishop  of  this  Church 
having  jurisdiction  in  the  place  where  he  lives,  or,  if  there 
be  no  such  Bishop,  to  the  Presiding  Bishop  of  this  Church, 
in  case  he  be  called  in  question  with  respect  to  error  of 
faith  or  of  conduct. 

§  IV.  In  case  a  person  so  ordained  be  charged  with  error 
of  faith  or  of  conduct  he  shall  have  reasonable  notice  of  the 
charge  and  reasonable  opportunity  to  be  heard,  and  the 
procedure  shall  be  similar  to  the  procedure  in  the  case  of 
a  clergyman  of  this  Church  charged  with  the  like  offense. 
The  sentence  shall  always  be  pronounced  by  the  Bishop  and 
shall  be  such  as  a  clergyman  of  this  Church  would  be  liable 
to.  It  shall  be  certified  to  the  ecclesiastical  authority  to 
which  the  defendant  is  responsible  in  any  other  Communion. 
If  he  shall  have  been  tried  before  a  tribunal  of  the  Com- 
munion in  which  he  has  exercised  his  ministry,  the  judgment 
of  such  tribunal  proceeding  in  the  due  exercise  of  its  juris- 
diction shall  be  taken  as  conclusive  evidence  of  facts  thereby 
adjudged. 

164 


APPENDIX 

§  V.  A  minister  so  ordained  may  officiate  in  a  Diocese 
or  Missionary  District  of  this  Church  when  licensed  by  the 
ecclesiastical  authority  thereof,  but  he  shall  not  become  the 
Rector  or  a  minister  of  any  parish  or  congregation  of  this 
Church  until  he  shall  have  subscribed  and  made  to  the 
Ordinary  a  declaration  in  writing  whereby  he  shall  solemnly 
engage  to  conform  to  the  doctrine,  discipline  and  worship  of 
this  Church.  Upon  his  making  such  declaration  and  being 
duly  elected  Rector  or  minister  of  a  parish  or  congregation 
of  this  Church,  and  complying  with  the  canons  of  this  Church 
and  of  the  Diocese  or  Missionary  District  in  that  behalf,  he 
shall  become  for  all  purposes  a  Minister  of  this  Church. 


6.    PROPOSALS  FOR  ORGANIC  UNITY  INITI- 
ATED BY  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY 
OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 
U.  S.  A. 

THE  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
19 1 8  adopted  a  resolution  calling  for  a  conference  with 
other  Protestant  churches  to  consider  and  to  prepare  a  plan 
for  organic  Church  union.  In  response  to  that  invitation 
representatives  of  the  Presbyterian  and  seventeen  other 
churches  met  in  December  of  19 18  and  adopted,  unani- 
mously, a  report,  of  which  the  substantial  parts  are  as 
follows: 

In  view  of  the  wide  opportunity  and  solemn  obligation  of 
the  hour,  the  following  action  is  taken: 

1.  That  the  members  of  this  Conference  from  each  com- 
munion, whether  present  in  official  or  personal  capacity,  be 
asked  as  soon  as  possible  to  appoint  representatives  on  an 
Ad  Interim  Committee  to  carry  forward  the  movement 
toward  Organic  Union  here  initiated. 

2.  The  committee  shall  be  composed  of  one  member 

165 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

from  each  communion,  and  one  additional  member  for  each 
500,000  communicants,  or  major  fraction  thereof.  In  addi- 
tion, the  Foreign  Missions  Conference  and  the  Home  Mis- 
sion Council  shall  each  be  asked  to  name  one  member. 

3.  The  same  privilege  of  membership  on  the  Committee 
shall  be  extended  to  evangelical  denominations  not  repre- 
sented here. 

4.  The  members  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A.  are  asked  to  act  as 
the  nucleus  and  convener  of  the  ad  interim  Committee. 

5.  This  ad  interim  Committee  shall  be  charged  with  the 
following  duties: 

(a)  To  develop  and  use  at  its  discretion,  agencies  and 
methods  for  discovering  and  creating  interest  in  the  subject 
of  Organic  Union  throughout  the  Churches  of  the  country. 

(b)  To  make  provision  for  presenting  by  personal  dele- 
gations, or  otherwise,  to  the  national  bodies  of  all  the  evan- 
gelical communions  of  the  United  States,  urgent  invitations 
to  participate  in  an  Interdenominational  Council  on  Organic 
Union. 

(c)  To  lay  before  the  bodies  thus  approached  the  steps 
necessary  for  the  holding  of  such  Council,  including  the  plan 
and  basis  of  representation,  and  the  date  of  the  Council 
which  shall  be  as  early  as  possible,  and  in  any  event,  not 
later  than  1920. 

(d)  To  prepare  for  presentation  to  such  Council  when 
it  shall  assemble  a  suggested  plan  or  plans  of  Organic  Union. 

(e)  To  consider  and  report  upon  any  legal  matters  related 
to  the  plan  or  plans  of  union  which  it  may  propose. 

6.  In  addition  to  the  above,  the  Ad  Interim  Committee 
is  directed  to  report  to  the  Interdenominational  Council  on 
any  and  all  matters  within  the  field  of  its  inquiries.  The 
Committee  will  be  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Council. 

In  requesting  the  Ad  Interim  Committee  to  undertake  the 
arduous  task  outlined,  the  Conference  desires  the  Committee 
to  proceed  with  freedom  at  every  point.     As  of  possible 

166 


APPENDIX 

assistance,  however,  in  the  deliberations,  the  Conference 
expresses  its  present  judgment  as  to  certain  aspects  of  the 
problem  to  be  faced. 

i.  The  Conference  is  profoundly  solicitous  that  the 
effort  for  organic  union  shall  have  first  regard  to  those  forces 
of  vital  spiritual  life  which  alone  give  meaning  to  our  effort. 
No  mechanical  uniformity  must  be  sought,  nor  any  form  of 
organization  which  ignores  or  thwarts  the  free  movement  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  in  the  hearts  of  His  servants. 

2.  In  line  with  this  desire  the  Conference  hopes  the 
Committee  will  be  able  to  devise  plans  so  broad  and  flexible 
as  to  make  place  for  all  the  evangelical  churches  of  the 
land,  whatever  their  outlook  of  tradition,  temperament  or 
taste,  whatever  their  relationships  racially  or  historically. 

3.  The  Conference  regards  with  deep  interest  and  warm 
approbation  all  the  movements  of  our  time  towards  closer 
co-operative  relations  between  communions,  especially  the 
notable  service  rendered  by  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America.  While  the  Ad  Interim 
Committee's  aim  and  function  will  lie  in  a  field  entirely 
different  from  those  movements,  it  will  be  expected  to  main- 
tain sympathetic  relations  with  them,  and  to  regard  with 
satisfaction  any  reinforcement  which  its  activities  may  bring 
to  them. 

4.  The  notice  of  the  Committee  is  directed  to  the  efforts 
for  Organic  Union  represented  in  other  lands,  especially  the 
Churches  of  Canada.  The  remarkable  and  significant  state- 
ment recently  issued  by  a  joint  committee  of  Anglican  and 
Free  Churches  of  Great  Britain  will  also  call  for  the  study 
of  the  Committee. 

5.  The  Conference  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  its 
search  for  a  plan  of  Organic  Union,  the  Committee  will  not 
be  precluded  from  considering  plans  of  Federal  Union  such 
as  are  in  varying  forms  present  to  the  minds  of  members 
of  this  Conference.  Our  nation  is  a  federal  union  but  is  not 
the  less  an  organic  union.    Care  should  be  used  not  to  con- 

167 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

fuse  the  term  "federal"  as  thus  employed,  with  this  mean- 
ing when  used  to  signify  "associated"  or  "co-operative." 

The  Ad  interim  Committee,  as  called  for  by  this  action, 
has  been  appointed,  and  they  are  now  engaged  in  preparing 
a  plan  of  unity  to  present  to  an  interdenominational  council. 


7.    THE  INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT 

THERE  has  been  laid  before  the  various  mission 
boards,  executive  commissions  and  officials  of  the 
evangelical  communions  of  North  America  a  plan  for  united 
study  and  united  effort  to  assure  the  support  of  the  mission 
work  of  those  communions  at  home  and  abroad.  This  plan 
will  be  submitted  to  the  national  bodies  of  the  churches 
at  their  meetings  during  the  spring  and  fall  of  19 19. 
The  main  features  of  the  plan  are  four  in  number: 

1.  A  United  Study  of  the  World  Field.  County  by 
county  in  this  country  and  mission  by  mission  in  foreign 
lands,  it  is  proposed  that  the  exact  facts  be  discovered  to 
the  end  that  the  needs  of  each  community  and  region  may 
be  appraised  and  the  whole  task  of  the  whole  church  put 
in  clear  light  and  due  proportion. 

2.  A  United  Budget.  On  the  basis  of  the  world  sur- 
vey it  is  proposed  that  a  single  joint  budget  be  made,  every 
item  of  which  shall  approve  itself  to  the  judgment  of  the 
several  mission  boards,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  work  of 
each  board,  and  have  the  approval  of  a  strong  interdenomi- 
national committee  aided  by  experts  in  the  various  fields 
covered,  this  committee  to  review  and  harmonize  the  details. 
While  this  budget  will  be  for  a  single  year,  it  will  take 
account  of  the  needs  of  a  five  year  period. 

3.  A  United  Appeal.  During  a  given  number  of  days 
at  some  point  in  1920  it  is  proposed  that  the  fifty  million 
people  constituting  the  Protestant  constituency  of  America 
be  asked,  community  by  community,   to  underwrite  the 

168 


APPENDIX 

united  budget  for  the  year  ahead,  payment  of  pledges  to  be 
made  week  by  week  through  customary  church  channels. 
There  will  be  a  united  treasury  to  care  for  undesignated 
gifts. 

4.  A  United  Program  of  Work.  It  is  proposed  that  this 
plan  shall  carry  the  steadily  growing  co-operation  of  recent 
years  in  the  mission  field  on  to  the  point  of  the  most  com- 
plete co-ordination  which  the  conditions  of  our  separate 
organizations  permit.  Funds  secured  will  be  expended  with 
detailed  regard  to  the  requirements  of  fraternal  co-operation. 

A  preliminary  organization  has  been  effected  to  carry  out 
these  proposals,  a  large  General  Committee  from  different 
parts  of  the  country  has  been  formed,  and  conferences  are 
being  held  throughout  the  nation  to  make  known  the  plans 
and  purposes  and  to  secure  general  support  of  this  move- 
ment. 


8.  PREPARATION  FOR  CONVENING  THE 

WORLD  CONFERENCE  ON  FAITH 

AND  ORDER 

\  N  Episcopal  delegation  has  carried  its  invitation  to  all 
ii  the  churches  in  continental  Europe  that  could  be 
visited  since  the  armistice,  and  they  have  received  generally 
favorable  responses.  Plans  and  means  for  the  convening  of 
the  Conference  will  now  be  considered  and  the  remaining 
task  of  gathering  together  so  great  a  representative  body 
from  all  peoples  of  the  earth  be  finally  accomplished.  It 
opens  possibilities  of  a  League  of  Churches  of  all  nations 
such  as  could  not  have  been  anticipated  when  the  plan  was 
first  conceived. 

The  movements  above  noticed  relate  to  proposals  for 
some  form  of  corporate  union.  Besides  these,  numerous 
co-operative  movements,  successful  community  services,  and 

169 


APPROACHES  TOWARDS  CHURCH  UNITY 

union  of  churches  in  many  localities  have  taken  place;  the 
War  Commissions  of  the  different  churches  have  co-operated 
in  the  appointment  of  chaplains,  and  Christian  work  in  the 
camps;  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  has  proved  to 
be  an  efficient  means  of  unification  and  support  in  these 
good  works;  all  together  they  have  served  to  create  a  gen- 
eral desire  for  Church  unity  and  a  belief  in  its  practicability. 
It  is  from  no  lack  of  appreciation  of  what  has  thus  been 
accomplished  in  the  unification  in  work  of  the  Christian 
forces  of  the  country,  that  all  these  co-operative  works  are 
not  more  specifically  noticed  here;  to  give  an  account  at  all 
adequate  of  them  would  require  an  entire  volume. 


170 


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